US Halts Asylum Decisions After Shooting of National Guard Members
The Trump administration has suspended all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for individuals traveling on Afghan passports, following a shooting near the White House that resulted in the death of Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both members of the West Virginia National Guard. The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is facing charges including first-degree murder.
Lakanwal, who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war, applied for asylum during the Biden administration, which was granted this year under President Trump. According to #AfghanEvac, a group that assists with the resettlement of Afghans who helped US forces in their country, Lakanwal’s asylum was approved despite the Trump administration’s efforts to rein in legal immigration.
Asylum Decisions Halted
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director, Joseph Edlow, announced on social media platform X that asylum decisions would be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” However, experts argue that the US already has rigorous vetting systems for asylum seekers, and the slowdown has been exacerbated during the Trump administration.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced that the State Department would pause “visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.” Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, criticized the move, stating that the administration is “using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them.”
The Suspect
Rahmanullah Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children. His former landlord, Kristina Widman, described him as a quiet and polite individual who spoke little English. Neighbor Mohammad Sherzad said Lakanwal attended the same mosque as him and was struggling to find work before he “disappeared” about two weeks ago.
Lakanwal worked briefly as an independent contractor for Amazon Flex and served in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit in the southern province of Kandahar. Investigators are executing warrants in Washington state and other parts of the country to determine the motive behind the attack.
The incident has sparked a heated debate about immigration policies, with some arguing that the Trump administration is using the shooting as a pretext to tighten immigration laws. For more information on this developing story, please visit Here
Image Source: www.latimes.com
