In a Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, highlighted the deep divide between America’s political parties on immigration. Kelly criticized the Trump administration, claiming it has effectively imposed a “permanent pause” on immigration from third-world nations, a move he interprets as racially motivated. “When I heard [Secretary Noem] talk about halting immigration from these countries, it sounded to me like they don’t want people of color coming to the U.S.,” Kelly expressed to host Kristen Welker.

His comments came in response to a segment earlier in the show, where Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security under President Trump, discussed the administration’s immigration policy. Noem stated that the President is committed to stopping all immigration processes from third-world countries until adequate vetting systems are in place, including for asylum seekers. She also mentioned an existing backlog of 1.5 million asylum cases inherited from the Biden administration. The Trump administration announced this immigration pause on Thursday, following a violent incident involving National Guard members in Washington, D.C.

In a tragic event last week, National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, aged 20, lost her life, and Air Force Staff Sergeant Andre Wolfe, 24, suffered critical injuries during a shooting incident in the nation’s capital. The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is accused of targeting the National Guard personnel as they patrolled near a mass transit station close to the White House. Authorities revealed that Lakanwal used a handgun registered to a deceased individual from Washington state to carry out the attack.

Beckstrom was struck first and sustained at least two gunshot wounds. Lakanwal then allegedly took her weapon and continued firing, which struck Wolfe. An investigation is ongoing on the attack and the suspect’s motives, but the US government previously announced that Lakanwal is an Afghan national who came to the country in 2021. Authorities said that Lakanwal enlisted in one of the CIA’s Zero Units. The group was instructed to raid and kill or capture members of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups.

According to Human Rights Watch, Zero Units were recruited, trained, and overseen by the CIA. Human Rights Watch accused the militant groups of violating international humanitarian law by carrying out unjustified executions, attacks, and airstrikes. The CIA has denied the allegations and said the group played a critical role in the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. When the Taliban seized control of the country, members of the unit were evacuated to the US due to humanitarian concerns. Lakanwal received asylum in the US with his family and resided in Bellingham, Washington, according to the New York Times. Investigators believe he traveled from his home in Washington state to DC before he carried out the attack.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma described Kelly’s attack on Trump for targeting brown people as one of ‘the most ridiculous things’ he had ‘ever heard’ when speaking with CNN anchor Dana Bash during a segment on State of the Union. ‘He just got done saying that the president was racist because he doesn’t like brown people,’ Mullin told Bash, before adding that he ‘sits in front of [her] as a Cherokee Indian’ who is ‘very close friends with the president.’