The recent shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., has revived calls from the Trump administration for “reverse migration,” or “remigration.” The term, once associated with fringe movements, is now a recurring feature of the administration’s immigration message and traces back to ideas promoted by European extremists, according to NPR reporting.
A recent shooting in Washington, D.C., in which two National Guardsmen were wounded, has brought renewed attention to the Trump administration’s language around “reverse migration” or “remigration.” In the days following the attack, officials have again invoked the idea as part of a broader push for more aggressive immigration restrictions, according to an NPR report aired on Dec. 9, 2025.
NPR’s coverage, reported by national security correspondent Odette Yousef and All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang, describes “remigration” as a concept that seeks to encourage or compel immigrants to return to their countries of origin. While versions of the term have surfaced in other policy debates, NPR notes that it has become a mantra in some of the administration’s recent rhetoric on immigration.
According to NPR, the ideas now labeled as “remigration” have roots in European extremist circles, where far-right activists have long promoted schemes to remove or exclude immigrants and their descendants. Researchers who track extremism have previously documented the spread of such language from online spaces and fringe political parties into more mainstream discourse.
Details about the D.C. incident itself remain limited in the public record; authorities have said only that two members of the National Guard were shot, prompting heightened security concerns. It is this episode, NPR reports, that has served as the latest catalyst for the administration’s calls to advance “reverse migration” as a policy goal.
The Dec. 9, 2025, NPR segment situates the administration’s embrace of the term within a larger evolution in U.S. immigration politics, in which ideas once confined to the far right in Europe are increasingly echoed in American debates. By tracing the lineage of “remigration” from extremist ideology abroad to contemporary U.S. political messaging, the report highlights how the language around immigration enforcement is shifting, even as many of the specific policy proposals remain contested and undefined.
