At a Saturday rally in Perry, Georgia, President Donald Trump revived a slur tied to a 2018 immigration dispute and contrasted four countries named in a 2025 U.S. entry proclamation with Norway, Sweden and Denmark. His remarks did not announce a formal policy preference for applicants from those three countries.
A recording of the Oct. 24 rally shows Trump asking, “Why do we always have to take people from shithouse countries?” He then asked why the United States could not take people from Norway, Sweden or Denmark. In a separate remark, Trump referred to migrants from Libya, Yemen, Haiti and Somalia as coming from what he called “terror infested countries.”
A White House proclamation issued Dec. 16, 2025, set full entry restrictions for nationals of Haiti, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, among other countries, starting Jan. 1, 2026. The rules generally apply to covered nationals who were outside the United States and lacked a valid visa on that date, with exceptions. The proclamation cites screening, vetting and information-sharing concerns as reasons for the restrictions; it does not establish a formal preference for applicants from Norway, Sweden or Denmark.
The State Department said the proclamation fully or partly suspended entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries. In an August 2026 notice, the department said the suspensions remained in place under the proclamation.
Trump’s comparison echoed a dispute over a January 2018 White House meeting. Sen. Dick Durbin said Trump disparaged Haiti and African nations during the meeting while discussing immigration and Norway. Trump denied using the reported language at the time, then acknowledged the slur at a Pennsylvania rally in December 2025.
