After DC Shooting, Noem Demands Total Travel Ban

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is urging a sweeping "full travel ban" on nations she claims are sending "killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies" to the United States. Noem announced her recommendation after she said she met with President Trump, posting on X that the country is being exploited by "foreign invaders" who, she said, "slaughter our heroes" and drain public resources, per NBC News. She added bluntly, in all caps, "We don't want them. Not one."

The Department of Homeland Security didn't clarify which countries Noem had in mind, but it stated in an email, "We will be announcing the list soon," per the AP. President Trump, meanwhile, shared Noem's post on Truth Social without additional comment. The call for a ban comes after last week's shooting in Washington, DC, that left one National Guard member dead and another critically injured. The suspect has been identified as an Afghan national who arrived in the US legally in 2021 following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, per NBC.

Trump has used the incident to justify tougher immigration policies, saying all Afghan arrivals under President Biden should be reviewed and that he wants to "permanently pause" immigration from what he deems "third-world countries." The Trump administration has already banned entry to nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, and Somalia, and sharply reduced the number of refugees allowed into the US, with priority given to white South Africans, per a Federal Register memo.