Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly is urging the Trump administration to sharply expand its travel-ban list to as many as 32 countries, a move that would widen current restrictions that cover 19 nations.
The recommendation, reported by CNN, comes in the wake of last week’s shooting in Washington, D.C., that killed one National Guard member and critically wounded another.
The suspect is an Afghan national who previously worked with the U.S. in Afghanistan, later resettled in Washington state under the Biden administration and was ultimately granted asylum under the Trump administration.
After meeting with President Donald Trump, Noem said she was pushing for a sweeping approach rather than piecemeal additions.
"I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies," Noem wrote on X, adding that Americans should not have to watch "foreign invaders" harm U.S. citizens or drain public resources.
CNN reported it remains unclear which nations would be added or when the expanded list would be announced, but the outlet said the recommendation reflects ongoing assessments and could still change.
The current list of 19 countries with full or partial restrictions includes Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
On Monday, Noem told Newsmax the broader issue is a vetting system she says was badly weakened during the Biden years, particularly during Operation Allies Welcome after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"We think up to 100,000 people came in under Operation Allies that may be here that we don't know necessarily who they are or why they came to this country," Noem said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," calling for screening to happen before arrivals ever board a plane to the United States.
Noem also pointed to what she described as an enormous asylum backlog and said the administration is shifting resources toward tougher pre-entry screening and tightening immigration controls, part of a broader Trump push to prioritize public safety, border security, and a national-security-first approach to migration.
A DHS spokesperson told Newsmax that an updated list would be announced soon, as the administration weighs how to prevent repeat failures while restoring credibility to a system critics say has too often put bureaucratic process ahead of Americans’ safety.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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