President Donald Trump said the “heinous attack” on two National Guard members outside the White House on Wednesday proves soft immigration policies are “the greatest national security threat facing our country.”
“No country can accept such a risk to our survival,” he said.
President Trump's remarks, posted in a video on social media, underscore his intent to overhaul the country's immigration system and tighten controls on migrants already here. With aggressive deportation efforts already underway, his response to the shooting showed his focus will not wane.
The suspect in the shooting is an Afghan national, Trump and two law enforcement officials said. He entered the United States in September 2021, following the chaotic collapse of the government in Kabul as Americans frantically evacuated people as the Taliban took control.
The 29-year-old suspect was part of Operation Welcome Allies, a Biden-era program that resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after U.S. troops pulled out of the country, officials said. The initiative brought about 76,000 Afghans to the United States, many of whom worked alongside American troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators.
It has since faced scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over gaps in its vetting process and adoption speed, even as its defenders say it has become a lifeline for people at risk of Taliban reprisals.
Mr. Trump called Afghanistan a “hell hole on earth” and said his administration would screen everyone coming from the country under President Joe Biden, a measure his administration has already taken. already planned before the incident.
During his speech, Trump also focused on Minnesota, where he complained about the “hundreds of thousands of Somalis” who are “tearing this once great nation apart.”
Minnesota is home to the nation's largest Somali community, numbering approximately 87,000 people. Many have come as refugees over the years.
The reference to immigrants, unrelated to Wednesday's events, was a reminder of the scale of Trump's ambitions to curb migration.
Administration officials are stepping up deportations of undocumented people from the country and also cracking down on refugee admissions. The focus has been on reallocating resources across federal agencies, raising concerns about the potential for undermining other law enforcement priorities.
But Mr. Trump's remarks signaled that scrutiny of migrants and the country's borders will only intensify. He said he wants to remove anyone “who doesn't belong here or doesn't benefit our country.”
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t need them,” Mr. Trump added.
Following this, USCIS announced that it would indefinitely stop processing all immigration requests for Afghan nationals pending review of security and vetting protocols.
Supporters of Afghan evacuees said they fear people who escaped danger from the Taliban will now face renewed suspicion and scrutiny.
“I don’t want people to use this tragedy as a political ploy,” said Sean VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac.
He said Wednesday's shooting should not shed a negative light on the tens of thousands of Afghan citizens who have gone through various legal routes to the United States and those awaiting resettlement in the United States.
Under Operation Welcome Allies, tens of thousands of Afghans were first flown to U.S. military bases across the country, where they underwent immigration processing and medical screening before settling in the country. Four years later, dozens of Afghans were still evacuated to transit points in the Middle East and Europe as part of the program.
Those in countries like Qatar and Albania that went through the rigorous process have been in limbo since Mr. Trump entered his second term and suspended the program as part of his series of executive actions to crack down on immigration.
Vice President J.D. Vance took to social media to criticize former President Biden for “opening the floodgates to unvetted Afghan refugees,” adding that “they should not have been in our country.”
“Some voices in the corporate media are already chirping that our immigration policies are too harsh,” he said. “Tonight is a reminder of why they are wrong.”
This article was published by The Associated Press. Farnoush Amiri reported from New York. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
