US halts asylum decisions after Washington shooting

2025-11-29 12:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The United States is freezing all asylum decisions, officials said Friday, as President Donald Trump toughens his stance against migrants after an Afghan national allegedly shot and killed two National Guard members in Washington earlier this week.

Wednesday's attack on the soldiers - one of whom died from his wounds - has prompted a new crackdown on foreigners in the US, with Trump vowing to suspend immigration from "third world countries".

Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said his agency has "suspended all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is screened and vetted to the maximum possible level."

This decision came after Trump announced late Thursday plans to "permanently suspend immigration from all third world countries to allow the American system to fully recover."

Asked which nationalities would be affected, the Department of Homeland Security showed AFP a list of 19 countries - including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar - that face travel restrictions to the US since June.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the US had temporarily stopped issuing visas to all individuals traveling with Afghan passports.

"The United States has no higher priority than protecting our country and our people," he stressed.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who allegedly opened fire on National Guard members just blocks from the White House, had been part of a CIA-backed "partner force" fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He entered the United States as part of a relocation program following the withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan in 2021.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, said Friday that Lakanwal will be charged with murder in connection with the attack.

Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old member of the West Virginia National Guard who was deployed to the US capital as part of what Trump called a crackdown on crime, died from her injuries.

The second wounded soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was "fighting for his life," Pirro said on Fox News' Fox & Friends program.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has vowed to seek the death penalty for Lakanwali, describing him as a "monster."/ Rel