President Donald Trump has said the suspect in the shooting of National Guardsmen entered the country thanks to Biden-era policies
The US has suspended the processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals after an Afghan asylum seeker was identified as the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC.
The decision came after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the suspect was “an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass-paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden administration.”
Multiple media outlets reported earlier that the suspect, who allegedly critically injured two guardsmen in an ambush-style attack on Wednesday, is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the US in 2021 and was granted asylum earlier this year.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday evening that it has “stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
President Donald Trump said the suspect “was flown in” under his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) facilitated the urgent evacuation of Afghans following the Taliban’s takeover of the country in August 2021.
“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country,” Trump said.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), around 90,000 Afghans entered the US under OAW and were allowed to remain in the country. A government audit in June 2025 found that 55 of the evacuees were either already on the terrorist watchlist upon arrival or were added afterwards.
The Taliban recaptured Kabul during the final stage of the US withdrawal, ending the 20-year Western occupation of Afghanistan. Trump described the chaotic exit as a “humiliation” and accused Biden of damaging America’s reputation.
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