Donald Trump has called for his government to re-examine every Afghan immigrant who entered the US during Joe Biden’s administration, after law enforcement officials identified the suspect in the shooting of two national guard members in Washington as a man from Afghanistan.
A statement from the Department of Homeland Security named the suspect asRahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US under a Biden-era policy allowing Afghans set up after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Immigration authorities granted Lakanwal asylum earlier this year,
The president called the incident “an act of terror,” adding, “we must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”
Soon after that statement, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
Trump also took the opportunity to rail against the immigration policies of his predecessor Joe Biden, casting the shooting as the result of lax vetting of migrants from Afghanistan, a country that he described as “a hellhole on earth.” (it is for the women!)
Trump concluded his remarks by claiming that the attack justified the reconsideration of refugee and asylum status granted under previous administrations.
Authorities did not immediately release the names of the victims, but NBC reported that both were from West Virginia.
Investigators recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the attack on the National Guard members and are working to determine when and how the suspect obtained it, law enforcement officials told CNN.
US law restricts firearms sales to people who aren’t citizens or legal permanent residents and it’s unclear whether the alleged gunman could have legally bought the handgun, the officials said.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said late Wednesday he visited the two National Guard members who were shot earlier in the day near the White House and called for prayers. . . Both Guard members are in critical condition, officials said at an earlier news conference.
