The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to curb legal immigration in the wake of the National Guard shooting in Washington, suspending all asylum decisions and suspending visas for people traveling on Afghan passports.
The suspect in Wednesday’s mass shooting near the White House killed an Army special officer. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and the seriously injured Air Force Chief of Staff. West Virginia National Guardsman Andrew Wolf, 24, is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes. Investigators are looking into the motive for the attack.
Rahmanullah Rakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who cooperated with the CIA during the Afghanistan war. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted asylum this year under President Trump, according to #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who have assisted U.S. troops stationed there.
The Republican administration has pledged to suspend entry into the United States from some poor countries and review the number of Afghans and other legal immigrants already in the country.
The two military personnel were sent as part of President Trump’s mission to the District of Columbia, which he said was needed to fight crime. President Trump has deployed or is attempting to deploy the National Guard to other Democratic-led cities to assist in mass deportation efforts, but these efforts are facing court challenges.
United States Attorney’s Office. Washington’s top federal prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, said the charges against Lakhanwal also include two counts of assault while armed with intent to murder. In an interview on Fox News, she said there were “many charges to come.”
Asylum decision was suspended
President Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for allowing Afghans who worked with the U.S. military into the country.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said in a post on social platform
Experts say the United States has a strict screening system for asylum seekers. Asylum applications filed domestically through USCIS have been held up for a long time. Critics say the economic slowdown worsened under the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department is suspending “visa issuance for all individuals traveling on Afghan passports.”
In response, Sean Vandiver, president of San Diego-based #AfghanEvac, which works with the U.S. government on Afghanistan resettlement efforts, said: “They are using one violent individual as cover for a policy they have been planning for years, and are using their intelligence failures as an excuse to punish entire communities and the veterans who served with them.”
suspect
Former landlord Christina Widman said Rakanwal lived with his wife and five children in Bellingham, Washington, about 130 miles north of Seattle.
Neighbor Mohammad Sherzad said Lakhanwal was polite and quiet and spoke little English.
Sherzad, who attends the same mosque as Lakhanwal, said she had heard from other members that she was having trouble finding work. He said Lakhanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago.
Lakhanwal worked briefly this summer as an independent contractor for Amazon Flex, which allows people to use their own cars to deliver packages, a company spokesperson said.
Investigators are executing warrants in Washington state and other parts of the country.
Officials said Lakhanwar entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Welcoming Allies, the Biden administration’s program to resettle Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal. Lakhanwal applied for asylum during the Trump administration and was granted asylum this year under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
Rakanwar belonged to a CIA-backed Afghan army unit known as the Special Zero Force in southern Kandahar province, said a resident of eastern Khost province who identified himself as Rakanwal’s cousin and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The man said Lakhanwal started working for the unit as a security guard in 2012 and was later promoted to team leader and GPS specialist.
Binkley and Finley write for The Associated Press. Associated Press journalists Sarah Brumfield, Siddiqullah Alizai, Elena Bekatros, Randy Hershaft, Cedar Attanasio and Harry Golden contributed to this report.
