President Donald Trump called for a “re-examination” of all Afghan nationals who came to the U.S. during the Biden administration, hours after an Afghan man was named as the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X that the suspect came to the U.S. in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program designed to help Afghans who assisted U.S. forces and were facing a Taliban takeover.
“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” Trump said in an address Wednesday night in which he called the shooting an “act of terror.”
Shortly after his remarks, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was halting the processing of immigration from Afghanistan to the U.S.
“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency, known as USCIS, said on X.
The two National Guard members, who are from West Virginia and deployed to Washington, were shot by a gunman around 2:15 p.m. They were in critical condition Wednesday, officials said. The suspect was also shot — by whom was still under investigation — and was hospitalized, according to police.
Authorities have not detailed a motive, if one is known, but D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that “this is a targeted shooting” and that the suspect appeared to target the guard members.
The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, of Bellingham, Washington, four senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
A relative of Lakanwal’s told NBC News on Wednesday that Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 after having served in the Afghan Army for 10 years, alongside U.S. Special Forces.
Lakanwal was stationed at a base in Kandahar for part of that time, the relative said. He came to the U.S. after the Taliban returned to power following the August 2021 withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and eventually settled in Washington state.
“We were the ones that were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” the relative said. “I cannot believe it that he might do this.”
A source familiar with the case and a separate law enforcement source told NBC News that the suspect was granted asylum this year.
Details of what a re-examination of Afghans already in the U.S. would look like, and who arrived during the Biden administration, were not immediately clear Wednesday night.
A Trump administration memo on Friday, seen by NBC News on Tuesday, called for a review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration — which could affect 200,000 people.
The memo calls for a “comprehensive review and a re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025,” including U.S. green card holders. It cites a finding by USCIS that the Biden administration “potentially prioritized expediency, quantity, and admissions over quality interviews and detailed screening and vetting.”
The San Diego-based Afghan advocacy group #AfghanEvac, which works to ensure that Afghans who helped the U.S. are not abandoned in the wake of the Taliban takeover, said Wednesday’s shooting should not be used to punish Afghans in the U.S.
“Afghan immigrants and wartime allies who resettle in the United States undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country,” Shawn VanDiver, the group’s president, said in a statement.
“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” he added.
The Department of Homeland Security resettled more than 80,000 Afghan refugees to the U.S. before or immediately after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent takeover by the Taliban. But many others who wanted to leave were left behind.
The State Department’s inspector general’s office said in a June 2023 report that as of March of that year, 152,091 Afghan “Special Immigrant Visa” applicants in Afghanistan were waiting on processing. The visa is for Afghans who were employed by or on behalf of the U.S.
Afghan immigrants and refugees, including those who aided the American military during 20 years of war, have been all but barred from entering the U.S. during Trump’s second term.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order suspending all refugee resettlement in the U.S. until admissions align “with the interests of the United States.” Thousands of Afghan refugees, including many who had already been approved for U.S. resettlement, are stranded in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, and in some cases they have been forcibly repatriated.
The Trump administration has also terminated protections that allowed Afghans to live and work in the U.S. temporarily because of dangerous conditions at home. The White House says the protections are no longer needed because it is now safe to return to Afghanistan, which is experiencing multiple humanitarian crises and which Trump described as a “hellhole” in Wednesday’s address.
Advocates say that Afghans who worked with the U.S. are at risk of persecution, torture or death if they return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and that they undergo extensive vetting before they arrive in the U.S.
Trump has said he is committed to helping Afghans who worked with the U.S. military, saying in August that “we know the good ones and we know the ones that maybe aren’t so good.”
