MAGA lays out hardline immigration demands after National Guard shooting
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Federal agents detain a person after attending a court hearing at immigration court in New York City. Photo: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
MAGA is urging the Trump administration to crack down harder than ever on immigration — legal and illegal — after the shooting of two National Guardsmen by an Afghan refugee.
Why it matters: For President Trump's hard-charging base, simply deporting criminals who entered the country illegally is no longer sufficient.
- Pent-up frustrations over America's changing demographics — punctuated by high-profile incidents like last week's attack — are reshaping what MAGA considers acceptable immigration policy.
- Ideas once seen as fringe are rapidly moving into the GOP mainstream, accelerated by Trump's own blistering criticism of "third-world" migration.
Driving the news: In the immediate aftermath of last week's shooting, the Trump administration paused all asylum decisions, suspended all immigration applications from Afghan nationals, and launched a "full scale" review of every green card holder from 19 "high-risk" nations.
- On Tuesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services paused all immigration applications from those 19 countries.
- Trump is considering expanding the travel ban to upwards of 30 countries.
Zoom in: Even as Trump officials plow ahead on dramatic new restrictions, MAGA influencers and candidates are promoting their own aggressive wishlist for immigration enforcement.
- End asylum and refugee claims: After the Washington shooting, many on the right say they have lost faith in the government's screening systems and want refugee and asylum admissions shut down entirely. U.S. law and international treaties require the government to process such claims.
- Immigration moratorium: Other MAGA voices want to go further: "We need a full moratorium on all legal immigration until the 20 million illegals in the U.S. are deported," GOP Kentucky Senate candidate Nate Morris said in September. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has introduced a bill to pause all but temporary tourist visas.
- End protections for people here legally: Millions of residents from countries like Afghanistan, Haiti and Nicaragua are in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status — a program routinely renewed across administrations. Trump last week moved to end TPS for Haitians beginning in January, but many in MAGA want him to go much further, arguing the program has drifted from its narrow humanitarian intent and become a form of de facto permanent residency.
- Mass denaturalization: Trump has expressed openness to the idea pushed by some supporters of stripping citizenship from naturalized citizens born in "third world" countries. The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh on Monday called for "the largest denaturalization campaign in the history of this country," targeting Somalis and Afghans. Zohran Mamdani, the Ugandan-born mayor-elect of New York City, has also been singled out as someone whose citizenship should be revoked.
- Target dual citizenship: A slice of MAGA wants to ban dual citizenship. The idea of loyalty to a different country is anathema to some on the right, and — in their eyes — believe an obstacle to true citizenship. A state constitutional amendment offered in Alabama would require elected constitutional officers to be natural-born citizens — barring dual citizens from holding those offices.
What they're saying: "President Trump was elected by the American people based on his promise to put America first and carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history!" White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
- "The President is fulfilling his promise every day and any policy changes needed to more effectively achieve this goal would be announced by the President or his Administration," she added.
Zoom out: The policy debate is unfolding as the right's rhetoric around immigration grows increasingly caustic and xenophobic — led at times by Trump himself.
- In the wake of a Minnesota fraud scandal involving Somali residents, Trump said Somalia "stinks and we don't want them in our country," adding that "we're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country."
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday that she's "recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."
The bottom line: MAGA is thrilled with Trump's early moves, even as the administration hasn't necessarily caught up to the base's maximalist demands.
- The movement has reason for optimism: Trump has a long history of absorbing his base's once-fringe ideas, then driving them even harder than the activists who proposed them.
