Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) criticized President Donald Trump’s pause on immigration as evidence that the president “doesn’t want brown people in the country.”
Kelly appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, days after an Afghan national allegedly opened fire on two National Guard soldiers in the District of Columbia. After one of the soldiers, Sara Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries, Trump announced he would pause migration from “third-world” countries and deport foreign nationals “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
“I think this [announcement] is consistent with what we‘ve seen from this president to date. You know, rounding up people in their community, he said he was going to go after drug dealers, gang members, criminals. What we‘ve seen so far is a little bit of that and a lot of just breaking up communities,” Kelly said Sunday.
“This is kind of more of the same from this president. When he says things like ‘third-world’ countries, what is he really saying? I think what he‘s saying is he doesn‘t want brown people in our country. And that is disturbing and it’s un-American,” Kelly added.
Mark Kelly: “This president, when he says things like ‘third world countries,’ what is he really saying? I think what he’s saying is he doesn’t want brown people in our country. And that’s disturbing. It’s un-American.” pic.twitter.com/14ZGVl5WMy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 30, 2025
When asked about which countries constituted “third-world” in light of Trump’s announcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement referred the Washington Examiner to the 19 countries listed in Trump’s June executive order restricting the entry of foreign nationals from countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, and Venezuela, among others.
Still, Kelly acknowledged that the vetting process for immigrants could improve. Later in the program, Kelly suggested that “if it makes sense to change some things, I think we need to do that.”
“I used to have a commanding officer in the Navy that used to say, ‘If you‘re not changing something, it‘s getting worse,’” Kelly said.
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL PAUSE IMMIGRATION FROM ‘THIRD-WORLD COUNTRIES’ AFTER SHOOTING
The alleged gunman in the attack on the Washington, D.C., National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was thoroughly vetted before entering the United States after he served with the CIA. Lakanwal was allowed to move to Washington state under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome.
Operation Allies Welcome was established after the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021. It was designated for Afghans who helped U.S. forces during the two-decade war in the country and feared retaliation from the Taliban once it took over the government.
