Trump announces new immigration crackdown after National Guard attack | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the global news podcast on. YouTube. I'm Anker Desai where we go. behind the headlines of a story and tell. you why it really matters. On this. episode, we look into the comments made. by Donald Trump. The US president says. he wants to permanently pause migration. from what he called third world. countries. His comments came a day after. an Afghan national was accused of. shooting two members of the National. Guard in Washington DC. One has since. died and the other is fighting for his. life. Mr. Trump has framed the incident. as a threat to national security in the.

US and his comments come amid a wider. toughening of his stance on immigration. To discuss this further, I'm joined by. our Washington correspondent Nomi Bau. who joins me down the line. Nomia, thanks so much for your time. Let's. start off then with President Trump. since he's come back into power. Uh. what's he done to curb immigration in. the states? >> He's carried through his very hardline. approach. So he's implemented these. really sweeping hardline immigration. policies through executive actions. He's.

also brought in a new law called the one. big beautiful bill act and this focused. heavily on enforcement, detention and. restrictions not just on illegal. immigrants but also legal uh immigration. and that's been hugely controversial. Uh. what we've seen on mass deportation. though he's initiated efforts to carry. out the largest domestic deportation. operation in American history to to. quote him using military aircraft. We've. seen uh uh people from Venezuela being.

sent back to Venezuela. Uh individuals. caught up in that who uh were then. brought back. He's expanded this sort of. ramped up removal process that has. bypassed court proceedings. And then. what we're seeing happening is this. expanded power of ICE agents. So this is. immigration and customs enforcement. So. these are people that you will have seen. uh through social media videos through. coverage that we have done as well uh.

going into Democrat-led cities which has. been largely the pattern here to places. like schools and churches and arresting. people enforcing these immigration. raids. And so he has done a lot and he's. gone further in in many cases which as I. say has been controversial. >> And what do you think he could do to. change things even more so in the. future? He's talked about permanently. pausing migration and he's talked about.

these so-called third world countries in. his words. So what could we expect to. come to follow? Well, in terms of that truth social post. that he put up, he basically wants to. make it harder for people to come to the. US from specific countries and for. people who are already here, illegal. immigrants. Of course, that has been a. huge focus for him. He does not want. them here. But even those who are here, who've applied for asylum, who've been. granted asylum, uh and as we're seeing.

now in the case of this shooting in DC, uh he wants uh those people thoroughly. vetted even more. Um there's lots of. organizations that work with Afghans and. they say that they're already very very. thoroughly vetted, but I think um what. he's doing is he's very much pursuing. the removal of non-citizens. He's. pressuring a lot of states and. localities to kind of cooperate in these. immigration enforcement uh policies and.

he's closed the southern border. Now I. travel down to uh the border u in Texas. with Mexico and there is no doubt that. Donald Trump has made a difference. The. number of people crossing over has gone. down to has gone down is is really. really gone down basically. Um, and. border control, uh, border agents that I. spent time with have said that there's. been a huge difference at the border. since Donald Trump got into office. Uh, but because people aren't crossing over,

which is kind of the the part that is a. little bit more straightforward, you can. just stop people coming into the country. and crossing the border and sending them. back. President Trump is now focusing on. trying to deport people inside the. country, which is a little bit harder. But because he had this whole plan of a. mass deportation, that is what he has. promised. He is sort of under his own, he's put pressure on himself to see that. through, which is why we're now seeing. this uh very aggressive form of. enforcement happening on the streets. where even people who are in the country.

who have applied for asylum, who are. turning up at courouses to process their. claims are then being arrested. And as I. say, that's that's caused huge. controversy. But I think ultimately. the what why it's controversial is. because there are those who are critical. of his approach and say that he's taking. these huge steps to reshape immigration. policy and practice that really does. test the limits of his executive power. >> And I guess it'll be interesting to see.

whether these measures will be now. challenged in the courts going forward. >> Well, several of them already have been. uh they're being extensively challenged. So just to give you some examples is. ongoing litigation. his uh expediated. deport deportations, the alien enemies. act, birthright citizenship. So these. are people who are born in the country. uh to those who uh have um temporary. visas basically and also the revocation. of temporary protected status. I just. want to give you one example though. So.

I mentioned before about ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They stake out at immigration courouses. They arrest people at their schedule. appointments and then they try to. quickly deport them and human uh rights. organizations are saying they're doing. this without any due process and due. process basically requires them to have. a fair hearing and these organizations. are saying President Trump is stripping. people from that right. So at the moment. you have a lawsuit that was filed by the.

American Civil Liberties Union as well. as uh the uh the the branch in the. District of Columbia and New York Civil. Liberties Union that are suing the Trump. administration over that particular. policy that I just outlined. And so the. court has granted their request to halt. that policy for the moment as the case. is being litigated. And normally this. will be a difficult tense time for. Afghan communities across the states, other migrant communities as well. because they'll be feeling somewhat. targeted and and scapegoated so much.

That's right. And we're already seeing. uh that that fear from those. organizations that work with uh those. communities. So just to give you an. example, Afghan. uh this is a organization. This is a. self-organized. coalition I should say of more than 200. groups and organizations. They're made. up of veterans, current and former. members of the national security space. Lots of people from human rights focused.

nonprofits, uh staffers, private sector. employees, veterans, and so forth. and. they are dedicated to helping Afghans. who worked alongside Americans in the. Afghanistan war and basically risk their. lives face retribution potentially from. the Taliban and they following the the. DC shooting uh they have you know made. the point that actually and I'm just. looking at uh what they're saying uh. they have said that Afghans that come to.

the US undergo extensive vetting and. they've laid out exact actly uh what. that vetting is and they say that the. data shows Afghan evacuees have. exceptionally low involvement in violent. crime and they have called for the. Afghan community to not be scapegoed and. I think there's an important point to. make here as well um in that when it. comes to Afghan refugees and as I say. those people who worked alongside. Americans in Afghanistan there has been.

this bipartisan effort to really support. those people. It's been, you know, right. from the beginning. It's spanned many um. administrations. uh that that these people should be. helped because of the risks they faced. Uh and so that issue that idea has been. supported by lawmakers on both sides. But as we always see in in DC, especially in this in the Trump era, is. that politics have become very divisive.

uh you have very prominent liberals who. are basically saying that Afghans are. being scapegoed and that uh the National. Guard troops shouldn't have even been in. DC in the first place. There was no need. for them to be deployed because crime is. pretty low in DC and this was just a. show of force and authority by Donald. Trump. And then on the other side you. have prominent conservatives, Republicans who are basically saying we. told you so. people like JD Vance, the.

vice president, uh, who is now. questioning this program under which. Afghan refugees were allowed into the US. under President Biden in 2021. and basically saying that that shouldn't. have been allowed. The vetting wasn't. thorough enough. But it's worth. mentioning that uh the suspect in the in. the DC shooting, their asylum was. approved by uh in 2025 under the Trump. administration, which has been put to. President Trump. And he has said that um. that it's really hard to get people out.

of the country once they have asylum. Uh. that's what he claims. And that he is. now focused on trying to get people out. of the country who do not belong here. and and because he's paused the. processing for Afghan refugees, of. course, it's a really uncertain time for. many of those who do live in the country. very peacefully and have families here. and are worried about what that means. for their future. Namia, thanks so much. for your time. Namal, our Washington. correspondent joining me on this. episode. Thanks so much for listening. and for watching. If you enjoyed this.

and you like world stories, then do. check out our global news podcast which. you can download from wherever you get. your podcast from. And please do give. this episode a like and do subscribe to. our BBC News YouTube channel. And please. leave us a comment below. If there's. anything you want us to cover and you. want to comment on this particular. story, you're more than welcome to do. so. For now, I'm Ana Desai. symmetry. company.