Recent comments from a Democratic Senator highlight the significant divide between America’s primary political parties on immigration policy.
In a Sunday interview on NBC’s Meet The Press with host Kristen Welker, Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly criticized the Trump administration’s approach. He claimed the administration is pushing for a ‘permanent pause on migration from all third-world countries’ due to an alleged disdain for ‘brown people.’
Kelly expressed his concerns to Welker, saying, ‘When I heard [Secretary Noem] mention pausing immigration from third-world countries, I interpret that as a signal that they’re not welcoming brown people to the United States.’
These remarks were in response to an earlier segment on Meet The Press, which featured an interview with Kristi Noem, President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
During her conversation with Welker, Noem stated that the President is steadfast in halting immigration processes from third-world countries until comprehensive vetting systems are established for migrants, including those seeking asylum.
Noem also pointed out that the Biden administration had left behind a ‘backlog of 1.5 million asylum cases.’
The Trump administration’s immigration pause announcement came on Thursday after two members of the National Guard were shot while on duty in Washington, DC this week.
National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed and Air Force Staff Sergeant Andre Wolfe, 24, was critically injured in the shooting by alleged gunman Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.
In an interview with Meet the Press, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) responds to President Trump’s decision to pause immigration from ‘all third world countries’
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas
US President Donald Trump, during a meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025
Lakanwal is accused of ambushing the National Guard members as they were patrolling a mass transit station in DC just outside of the White House.
Officials previously told reporters that the suspect used a handgun registered to a dead resident in Washington state to commit 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.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US during the post-withdrawal evacuation
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.
Pictured, about 650 Afghans are seen fleeing Kabul aboard an Air Force plane in August 2021
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.’
