WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has announced his intention to “permanently pause migration” from less affluent countries and aims to revoke the legal status of millions of immigrants, thereby expelling them from the United States. He attributes a range of issues, from crime to housing shortages, to immigrants, describing these problems as part of America’s “social dysfunction” and advocating for what he calls “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

This declaration marks Trump’s most intense stance against immigration on social media since taking office again this January. The comments followed a tragic incident on Wednesday when two National Guard members, deployed under Trump’s directive, were shot in the nation’s capital. One of the guardsmen lost his life, while the other remains in critical condition.

Authorities have charged a 29-year-old Afghan national in connection with the shooting. This individual had collaborated with the CIA during the Afghanistan War and was relocated to the U.S. under a program designed to resettle those who assisted American forces after their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump’s drastic proposal to halt immigration could significantly impact a nation historically known for its embrace of newcomers, challenging a core aspect of its identity.

Following the shooting near the White House, officials from the administration have pledged to scrutinize the status of millions of legal immigrants. This is part of an ongoing effort spanning ten months to decrease the immigrant population. In a detailed social media post on Thursday evening, the President argued that individuals born outside the U.S. and residing here contribute substantially to the nation’s societal challenges.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal migration, and raids and deportations undertaken by his administration have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools have been frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous as America’s foreign-born workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens.

There are roughly 50 million foreign-born residents in the U.S., and multiple studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than are people who were born in the country.

The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology.

“With few exceptions, studies conducted at both the aggregate and individual levels demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency across neighborhoods and cities in the United States,” it said.

A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims.

Trump seemed to have little interest in a policy debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid response social media account, called “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump.”

He pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for those who are not U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

Trump claimed immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” as he used a dated slur for intellectually disabled people to demean that state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to trigger Trump’s anger over immigrants, yet he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died on Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition.

The suspect, currently in custody, was also shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening.

Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the U.S.

“No, but we’ve had a lot of problems with Afghans,” the president said.