Trump Says He Would Denaturalize Criminals, Asylum Freeze Could Last 'Long Time'

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, President Donald Trump gave some updates on immigration-related matters, including the recently enacted freeze on asylum applications and the possibility of revoking citizenship from naturalized persons who commit crimes.

For Context: Earlier this week, after two National Guard members were shot and killed in Washington, DC, allegedly by an Afghan asylum seeker, the Trump administration paused all decisions on pending asylum cases and issuing visas to Afghan nationals. Trump also said he would "permanently pause" immigration from "all third world countries."

Asylum Pause: Trump said the asylum freeze had "no time limit, but it could be a long time." He added, "We don't want those people. We have enough problems. Many of them are no good and they shouldn't be in our country." When asked who he meant by "those people," Trump said, "People from different countries that are not friendly to us and countries that are out of control themselves."

Denaturalization: When asked about revoking citizenship from naturalized criminals, Trump said, "If we have criminals that came into our country, and they were naturalized maybe through Biden, or somebody that didn't know what they were doing, if I have the power to do it – I'm not sure that I do – I would denaturalize, absolutely."

How The Media Covered It: The immigration updates weren't widely covered by mainstream media outlets. Outlets across the spectrum began to cover Trump's remarks on denaturalization early Monday, and focused on his use of the word "absolutely." No outlets that AllSides analyzed coverage from the provided full quote. Fox News (Right bias) offered a significant portion of the quote but distorted it by omitting the word "if" from the beginning.

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