The Trump administration announced it was suspending all asylum decisions due to the National Guard's actions. shooting in Washington DCaccording to a senior immigration official.
Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a post on X on Friday that asylum decisions will be suspended “until we can ensure that every alien is screened and screened to the maximum extent possible.”
The announcement comes as charges against a man accused of shooting two National Guard members were upgraded to first-degree murder following the death of one of the soldiers, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia announced Friday, as investigators continue to search for a motive.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolf, 24, were hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting Wednesday afternoon near the White House. Donald Trump said Thursday night that Beckstrom died.
The office of US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwala, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan now includes one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill with a weapon.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were assigned to the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump's anti-crime mission that federalized the D.C. police force. The president also sent or tried to send National Guard members to other cities to assist in his mass deportation efforts, but faced legal challenges.
Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for allowing Afghans who worked with U.S. troops during the war in Afghanistan to enter the United States. Trump has said he wants to “permanently halt migration” from poorer countries and drive millions of immigrants out of the country.
In an interview with Fox News, Pirro said that in addition to the increased murder charge, “there will be a lot of charges.” She said her heart goes out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being gunned down in an ambush on the cold streets of Washington.”
Pirro said officials were working around the clock to determine the suspect's motive. Investigators executed warrants in Washington state, where Lakanwal lived, and in other parts of the country.
Wolf remains in “very critical condition,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Friday. He ordered state flags to be flown at half-mast in recognition of Beckstrom's death.
Lacanwal lives in Bellingham, Washington, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlady, Christina Widman.
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of Operation Welcome Allies, a Biden administration program that resettled Afghans following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration but was granted asylum. Trump administration“, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
In his Thanksgiving address to the military on Thursday, Trump said Lacanwal “has gone crazy. I mean, he's gone crazy.”
On Wednesday night, the president called for a reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration's initiative, which has brought about 76,000 people into the country, many of them working as interpreters and translators.
The program has come under scrutiny from Trump and others over allegations of gaps in the vetting process, even as supporters say vetting was thorough and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.
