Community members prepare a portrait of West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom for a vigil in her honor at the town hall on November 28, 2025 in Webster Springs, West Virginia.
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As law enforcement officials investigate the shooting of National Guard members in Washington, D.C., U.S. immigration policy has undergone rapid changes.
The Trump administration has abruptly halted the processing of any immigration requests from Afghan nationals, and the president has vowed to further tighten his crackdown on immigration.
Here is what we know.
National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom remembered
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of Summersville, West Virginia, joined the service in 2023. Beckstrom’s father, Gary, called her his “baby girl” and said she had “passed to glory” in a Facebook post on Thursday.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey on Friday called for residents to hold a moment of silence for the two victims of the shooting, as both were deployed as part of that state’s National Guard.
Morrisey said in a statement Friday that Beckstrom had made the “ultimate sacrifice” in service to her state and the nation. He added that both Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, had stepped forward and volunteered for the mission in D.C.
Morrisey also said that Wolfe remains in “very critical condition.”
“These two West Virginia heroes were serving our country and protecting our nation’s capital when they were maliciously attacked,” Morrisey said. “Their courage and commitment to duty represent the very best of our state.”
An American flag and small bunch of pink flowers sit in a planter near a bus stop.
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The suspect is now facing a charge of murder in the first degree
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who allegedly shot the National Guard members, is now facing a first degree murder charge.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said during an interview with Fox News on Friday that the charges against Lakanwal have been upgraded to first-degree murder and that there are “many more charges to come.”
Lakanwal, who was 5 years old when the war in Afghanistan started, immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 when U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban toppled its government. Lakanwal worked with an elite counterterrorism unit, which was operated by the CIA, according to AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by U.S. veterans and others who served in Afghanistan. The organization has said specialized units like this one were used to carry out extremely violent clandestine missions.
According to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Lakanwal was able to resettle in the U.S. with his family because of the work he did on behalf of American intelligence.
Officials are looking for leads in the U.S. and abroad as there is yet no definitive motive for the shooting.
The Trump administration is pausing all asylum decisions
The administration is dramatically tightening its controversial immigration policies.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that he will “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow also posted on X, that the agency has “halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.
“The safety of the American people always comes first,” Edlow wrote.
NPR’s Alana Wise, Kat Lonsdorf, Juliana Kim and Brian Mann contributed to this report.
