US freezes all asylum decisions and suspends visas for Afghans after National Guard member killed in Washington shooting by Afghan migrant.
WASHINGTON: The United States is freezing all asylum decisions following a deadly shooting that killed a National Guard member.
President Donald Trump announced the immigration crackdown after an Afghan national allegedly shot two soldiers near the White House on Wednesday.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow confirmed his agency has “halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
Trump also pledged to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” in a social media post late Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security identified 19 affected countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately announced the US had temporarily stopped issuing visas to all individuals traveling on Afghan passports.
“The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people,” Rubio said Friday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, allegedly opened fire on the guardsmen just blocks from the White House.
US attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro said Lakanwal would be charged with murder over the attack.
Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member, died from her wounds.
The second injured soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life,” Pirro told Fox News.
Attorney General Pam Bondi described Lakanwal as a “monster” and pledged to seek the death penalty.
Trump threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under predecessor Joe Biden in his latest immigration escalation.
USCIS will reexamine green cards issued to migrants from the same 19 countries facing travel restrictions.
More than 1.6 million green card holders, roughly 12% of the permanent resident population, were born in the listed countries.
Afghanistan alone has over 116,000 green card holders according to US immigration data.
Shawn VanDiver, president of resettlement group AfghanEvac, blasted the visa suspension as using “a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned.”
Lakanwal had been living in Washington state with his family before driving to the capital for Wednesday’s shooting.
Trump claimed Lakanwal received unvetted access due to lax asylum policies after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden.
AfghanEvac countered that Afghans underwent “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.
The group added that Lakanwal applied for asylum under Biden but received it later, under Trump. – AFP
