A CENTRAL tenet of President Donald Trump’s administration is to transform the US into a white Christian nation. Towards this end, fully armed Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are harassing everyone who is not white. Refusing to adhere to any constitutional constraints, they are dragging out black and brown children from high schools, employees from stores and travellers from airports and taking them to detention centres even if they are US citizens. In Minneapolis, where a white woman Renee Good was killed as a result of this frenzy, ICE agents were going into Somali-American neighbourhoods and pulling out entire families for detention. It is no surprise then that this week, the State Department tweeted that it would “pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people”. Following this, the list of countries was released, with the implicit allegation that those applying for immigration from these states were dependent on public benefits after arriving in the US, i.e., they were using Medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance and other programmes designed for indigent Americans. No statistical evidence was provided to substantiate the claim that immigrants from these countries were more likely than others to use public benefits. In fact, the administration doesn’t have to provide proof. The first Trump administration (2017-2021) weaponised the ‘public charge’ rule to scrutinise the likelihood of arriving immigrants using public benefits, making it hard for applicants to obtain Green Cards — in line with the Trumpian stance that immigrants were a general scourge. However, the following Biden administration restored the rule to what it had been before 2016. Last November, the administration again proposed a new draft of the rule which states: “The 2022 regulations are not the best implementation of the statute, inconsistent with congressional intent, unduly restrictive, and hamper DHS’s [Department of Homeland Security] ability to make accurate, precise and reliable determinations of whether certain aliens are likely at any time to become a public charge”. Rescinding the rule would give immigration officers a freer hand to decide on immigrants’ use of public benefits in line with the government’s position that these should not encourage immigration. The agony over visas does not matter to Trump’s administration. The State Department is tasked with enforcing this new understanding of the public charge rule and the 75 countries now face an indefinite pause in the processing of applications. Given that the Trump project is so inherently tied up with Christian nationalism and white supremacy, this shouldn’t be a surprise. In effect, it’s a moratorium on brown and black people immigrating because of family ties. Even spousal visas, which have historically been exceptions, are included in the pause. Those applying for non-immigrant visas are exempt, which means that people applying for B tourist visas, F student visas, J exchange visitor visas and H and L employment-based visas will have their applications processed and visas issued. However, these categories are subject to other hindrances (such as the high fee for H-1B visas). A number of countries are also subject to a travel ban , which means their citizens cannot obtain a US visa un­­der any circumstances. Undoub­te­d­­ly, this pause is going to pro­ve a significa­­nt obstacle to those who have been seeking US immigrant visas. Those who have rec­ently married a US citizen and are waiting for their visas to be processed, or parents who are awaiting Green Cards, face uncertainty. With many cases filed, people are left in limbo. None of this international agony matters to the Trump administration. If anything, the stricter the rules it imposes on non-white immigrants, the happier it imagines its white supremacist MAGA base will be. Trump’s inability to revive the economy or create jobs, both of which were core promises of his poll campaign, mean that he has to take harsh actions involving immigrants in the hope that it will satisfy his increasingly annoyed voter base. And, midterm elections are coming up this year, with early indications that a strong anti-Trump sentiment will cause the Republican to lose the House and Senate and end the carte blanche that Trump now enjoys. Until then, any brown or black person wanting to come to America is likely to face extreme challenges. The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy. rafia.zakaria@gmail.com Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026