US Politics
Trump administration halts all asylum decisions in wake of DC National Guard shooting
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The Trump administration has halted all decisions regarding migrants seeking asylum in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members. The suspected shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who was granted asylum earlier this year.
Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow wrote on X Friday evening, “USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible. The safety of the American people always comes first.”
A notice sent to asylum officers, and obtained by CBS News, explicitly tells them not to enter “any decision information for affirmative cases.”
Immigrants who are not involved in removal proceedings can apply for affirmative asylum with Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is under the Homeland Security Department. Applications in defensive cases are filed by immigrants facing deportation and are decided by immigration judges under the direction of the Department of Justice.
More than 1 million people are awaiting decisions on their asylum applications, according to a 2024 report from Homeland Security. From those cases, more than 786,000 people were waiting more than 180 days for a decision in their affirmative asylum cases.
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The man suspected of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members —one fatally — near the White House Wednesday, likely underwent extensive vetting as a CIA asset and again as he sought asylum in the United States.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, which almost certainly would have required extensive vetting.
He was also likely vetted when he received asylum under Trump earlier this year.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI director Kash Patel have both suggested in recent congressional testimony that the administration had carefully scrutinized thousands of Afghan refugees.
“During my tenure, we are going through the databases to make sure that no known or suspected terrorists enter this country to harm our nation,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September.
Trump administration officials now appear to be walking that back.
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U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro disputed the idea that Lakanwal had received any vetting at all in an interview with Fox News on Friday morning.
Pirro also said Lakanwal will face a first-degree murder charge after Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries. The other guardsman who was shot, Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.
Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, claimed that Lakanwal was only “vetted” by the intelligence community “to serve as a soldier” but not for “his suitability to come to America and live among us as a neighbor, integrate into our communities, or eventually become an American citizen.”
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Noem said Lakanwal came to the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program that helped resettle Afghans who had assisted the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban. The program has taken in about 76,000 people.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Trump railed against former President Joe Biden for the program.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about. Nobody knew who was coming in,” Trump said.
The president then warned in a Truth Social post Thursday, “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”
Trump also said he’d “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country” and “deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
Homeland Security officials said Trump has ordered a widespread review of asylum cases approved under the Biden administration and green cards issued to citizens from 19 countries, according to Reuters. The citizens of these countries, including Afghanistan, are all subject to a travel ban Trump imposed in June.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also announced his agency’s crackdown on undocumented migrants receiving federal tax benefits.
The Treasury Department “will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens,” he said.
