Washington DC: Will US president Donald Trump’s latest rants against immigrants from “Third World Countries” affect Indians?
It is not yet clear as Trump has not clarified what he means by “Third World Countries”.
The expression was originally introduced by French demographer Alfred Sauvy in 1952 during the Cold War.
According to him, the First World comprised the capitalist bloc (US+Western allies), the Second World included the communist bloc (then Soviet Union+its allies) and the Third World were those not aligned with either bloc (mostly Asia, Africa, Latin America).
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the term lost its original political intention. Its modern use typically refers to countries that are economically disadvantaged or still developing.
When looking at the modern but controversial economic interpretation, India is usually classified as a developing country, not an Least Developed Country (LDC), and thus does not fall into the UN’s list of 44 least developed nations. However, according to World Population Review, in the list of 2025 “Third World” countries according to Human Development Index, India features with an HDI of 0.685.
Trump’s tirade came on Thursday after the attack by an Afghan national near the White House in Washington DC on Wednesday that killed US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom (20) and US Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe (24).
The US president declared that he will “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries”, after the incident.
He vowed not only to halt future migration but also to reassess millions of immigration admissions issued under the previous Biden administration, according to a report by the AFP.
Trump said his plan would include deporting non-citizens who, in his words, fail to contribute or pose security concerns, and cutting off federal benefits for all non-US citizens.
These comments are being seen as a dramatic intensification of Trump’s second-term agenda, which has increasingly focused on mass removals and sharply restricted entry into the US. Trump framed the move as necessary, and said, “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”
Meanwhile, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new policy guidance ordering a comprehensive re-examination of every Green Card belonging to individuals from nations classified as “high-risk”.
USCIS director Joseph Edlow said the new directive is already in effect and will apply to all pending and future requests filed from November 27, 2025, onward, according to a report by news agency PTI. He added that “country-specific negative indicators” will now be used during security vetting.
The 19 countries designated under the updated scrutiny list are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
These same nations were included in a travel restriction order Trump issued earlier this year targeting perceived security threats.
