The US has halted all asylum decisions as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration following the fatal National Guard shooting in Washington.
The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said “USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.
The move comes after two members of the National Guard were shot in an attack on Wednesday, allegedly carried out by an Afghan national who was evacuated and resettled by the US government in 2021.
One of the guards, Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her injuries on Thursday. The second, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.
The shooting has served as a catalyst for Trump to further restrict immigration and step up scrutiny of foreigners in the US. The president in recent months deployed National Guard troops to Washington and several predominantly Democratic-led cities in part to deal with protests against his deportation campaign — as well as to fight crime.
Trump said in a social media post on Thursday night the US would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” — and lashed out at a Muslim congresswoman for wearing a headscarf and at immigrants from Somalia who he claimed were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” and “prey[ing]” on Americans.
Edlow on Thursday said Trump had instructed him to launch “a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”.
About 12.8mn legal permanent residents, known as Green Card holders, live in the US as of 2024, according to US official estimates.
Edlow did not name the specific nations, although Trump cited 19 countries of concern in a June executive order imposing a complete or partial entry ban on what he said were security grounds.
The countries covered by the order were: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Later on Friday, secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US would pause “visa issuance for ALL individuals travelling on Afghan passports”.
Trump has frequently cited the tens of thousands of Afghans who were evacuated to the US under president Joe Biden during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan as a security threat.
The Biden administration hailed the evacuation, known as Operation Allies Welcome, as the biggest humanitarian airlift in history, saying many had worked in support of the US’s 20-year war and were at risk of retaliation by the Taliban as the extremist militant group regained control of Afghanistan.
Officials said the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, had worked with the US, including the CIA, as part of a “partner force” in Kandahar. He is accused of shooting the two National Guard members at close range as they patrolled near the White House.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, told Fox News on Friday that the man in custody would be charged with murder among other offences.
CIA director John Ratcliffe on Thursday said “the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the US”, but Lakanwal “should never have been allowed to come here”.
However, the Department of Homeland Security declined to say whether Lakanwal’s claim for asylum in the US had been approved under the Trump administration.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, on Friday said a 2023 court settlement over delays to processing Afghan evacuees’ asylum claims had required the government to expedite the adjudications.
“Regardless if his asylum was granted or not”, the administration would have been unable to deport him because of the court settlement, McLaughlin told the Financial Times.
Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan has faced bipartisan criticism, after their removal led to the rapid collapse of the US-backed government and a chaotic race to evacuate Afghans who had supported the US.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has restricted entry for Afghans and removed hurdles to their deportation.
The Afghan Evac Coalition, made up of US veterans groups and volunteers, on Thursday warned against vilifying “an entire” community “because of the actions of one deranged man”.
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