The Trump “Third World” Immigration Ban: Who Exactly Is He Targeting?

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 5, 2025: Let’s talk about this new phrase Donald Trump has resurrected from the graveyard of outdated Cold War language and his new plan: The Trump “Third World” immigration ban.

A term the world has long abandoned for being racist, colonial and ignorant is now back in circulation – courtesy of the President of the United States – as he pushes a promise to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries.”

But who is he talking about? Spoiler: It’s not Europe.

Demonstrators demand action to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining and disappearing thousands of migrants after the New Orleans City Council meeting is delayed in Louisiana, USA on December 4, 2025. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has moved hundreds of agents to Louisiana in the “Catahoula Crunch” sweep to detain and deport thousands of persons, following Donald Trump’s orders to deport a million undocumented immigrants by the end of the year. (Photo by John Rudoff/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Trump rolled out this latest scare tactic after the tragic shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal – a man who, ironically, had once worked with the CIA, guarded U.S. forces at Kabul airport and risked his life as part of the U.S.-funded Kandahar Strike Force.

But nuance has never been the strong suit of an administration determined to paint every immigrant of color as a terrorist-in-waiting.

Within hours, Trump declared a full stop on immigration from “Third World countries,” while his appointees scrambled to produce policy to support his rhetoric.

USCIS quickly issued guidance authorizing officers to use “country-specific negative factors” when vetting immigrants from 19 so-called high-risk nations – all of them, by the way, non-white, non-European countries. They are: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Not a single white-majority country made the list.
Imagine that.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow claimed that former President Joe Biden, spent “four years dismantling basic vetting” – which is false on its face – and declared that Trump’s approach will now prioritize American lives.

Yet, here’s what’s missing from Trump’s angry declarations:

The suspect was already vetted – repeatedly – by the CIA and U.S. intelligence before being granted entry.
The U.S. recruited him.
The U.S. trained him.
The U.S. relied on him.
The U.S. brought him here.

But instead of questioning America’s own intelligence failures or the mental health toll of war – Trump is blaming 19 countries and millions of brown and Black people who had nothing to do with this shooting.

And while he was at it, the administration has announced it would pause reviewing all pending applications for green cards, citizenship, swearing in or asylum from immigrants from these 19 countries listed in a previous travel ban.

PLAN

The President also announced plans to:

End birthright citizenship,

End all federal benefits for noncitizens,

Re-examine thousands of existing green cards issued to immigrants from those 19 countries,

And suspend all Afghan immigration entirely.

The UN had to remind Trump – again – that the United States is party to the Refugee Convention and cannot just deport people into danger.

But Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric doesn’t stop at Afghans. Haitian immigrants are the next target.

This week, the administration moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status, (TPS), for over 500,000 Haitians, effective February 3, 2026.

These are people who have lived in the U.S. for over a decade, built families, raised American children, paid billions in taxes, and kept entire industries running.

REACTION

As Aline Gue, Executive Director of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, put it: “We are the backbone of entire industries… Our lives are here. Ending TPS threatens entire families and communities.”

She is right. Haiti is not safe. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not with kidnappings, mass rape, political terror, and gang rule. Sending Haitians back now is not policy – it is cruelty. But cruelty is the point. Whether Trump is threatening Afghans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Iranians, or Somalis, the message is the same: Brown and Black immigrants are the enemy. White ones are not.

That’s why white South Africans get prioritized refugee slots, but Haitians lose TPS. Afghan allies are suddenly “security threats,” but Europeans are “partners.”

Trump’s immigration agenda has never been about safety. It is about reshaping America’s demographics. And using tragedies – even before facts are known – to justify mass deportations and mass fear. Sadly, the many immigrants who helped him get elected are the ones whose families will now pay the price. I’m referring especially to the Haitians For Trump and the Cubans, Somalians, Venezuelans and other Hispanic immigrants who despite hearing the xenophobic rhetoric for years and seeing it in action in the first administration, voted for him.

Meanwhile, the truth is simple, as Jeremy McKinney of the American Immigration Lawyers Association noted: “Radicalization and mental illness don’t know nationality.”

But bigotry does. And it’s now being written into federal policy – country by country. Because when Trump says “Third World,” what he really means is: non-white. And when he says, “pause immigration,” what he really means is: punish immigrants of color.

When he says, “put Americans first,” what he really means is: return to a country that never actually existed.

As always, the people paying the highest price are the immigrants who have done everything right – and now live in fear that everything they’ve built can be taken away with the stroke of a pen.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.