President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a sweeping “re-examination” of all Afghan nationals who entered the United States under the Biden administration, hours after authorities confirmed that an Afghan man was the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House.
Trump, speaking from Florida, described the attack as “an act of terror” and said the U.S. must reassess every individual brought to the country through Operation Allies Welcome — the emergency resettlement program launched in 2021 to assist Afghans fleeing Taliban rule.
His remarks came shortly before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced an immediate halt to the processing of all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals.
The agency said the suspension would remain in place pending a review of security and vetting protocols.
The shooting occurred around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on two National Guard members from West Virginia who were on patrol in downtown Washington. Both soldiers were critically wounded.
The suspect was also shot — it remains unclear by whom — and was hospitalized, authorities said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the attack “appeared to target” the Guard members, though investigators have not publicly identified a motive. Multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, ATF, and the Department of Homeland Security, are involved in the investigation.
Federal officials identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, of Bellingham, Washington. According to four senior law enforcement officials briefed on the case, Lakanwal arrived in the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome after serving for a decade in the Afghan National Army, including alongside U.S. Special Forces in Kandahar.
“We were the ones targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” a relative who served with him told NBC News. “I cannot believe it that he might do this.”
A source familiar with the investigation said Lakanwal was granted asylum earlier this year.
The scale of Trump’s proposed review remains uncertain. A memo circulated last week inside the Trump administration called for a full reassessment of all refugees admitted during the Biden years — a move that could affect nearly 200,000 people.
The directive suggests a broad effort to revisit security screenings and immigration decisions made over the past four years.
For now, federal authorities say the immediate focus remains determining the suspect’s motive and assessing whether the shooting has any link to extremist ideology or foreign influence.
