US halts asylum decisions as troop killing sparks migrant crackdown

The United States is freezing all asylum decisions, officials said Friday (28 November), as President Donald Trump hardens his anti-migrant stance after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members this week in Washington.

Wednesday's attack on the soldiers -- one of whom died from her injuries -- has ignited a fresh crackdown on foreigners in the United States, with Trump also pledging to suspend migration from "third world countries."

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

That followed Trump's announcement late Thursday of plans to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover."

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

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

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

'Monster'

The shooting has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump's controversial use of the military on American soil, immigration, and the lingering legacy of the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who allegedly opened fire on the guardsmen just a few 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 resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said Friday that Lakanwal would be charged with murder over the attack.

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

The second injured soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was "fighting for his life," Pirro told the Fox News program Fox & Friends.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has pledged to seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, describing him as a "monster."

'Long planned'

In his social media post Thursday, Trump also threatened to reverse "millions" of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, in a new escalation of his anti-immigration stance.

Separately, the USCIS said it would reexamine the green cards -- permanent residency cards -- issued to individuals who had migrated to the US from the same 19 countries also cited by the Department of Homeland Security.

More than 1.6 million green card holders, roughly 12% of the total permanent resident population, were born in the countries listed, according to US immigration data analysed by AFP.

Afghanistan has over 116,000 green card holders.

Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the country after the military withdrawal, blasted Rubio's move to halt all visa issuances.

"They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned," he said in a statement.

Lakanwal had been living in the western state of Washington with his family and drove across the country to the capital before Wednesday's shooting, officials said.

Trump has insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.

However, AfghanEvac said the Afghans had undergone "some of the most extensive security vetting" of any migrants. It added that Lakanwal applied for asylum under Biden but received it later, under Trump.