Accused National Guard attacker faces US murder charge; Trump wants to halt ‘Third World’ migration
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Formal charges were not immediately filed against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had been in the US since 2021.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on Fox News on Nov 28 that other charges would be filed against 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, whom she said ambushed the soldiers from the West Virginia National Guard near the White House on Nov 26.
Formal charges were not immediately filed against Lakanwal, who had been in the US since 2021 under a programme of then-President Joe Biden’s administration to resettle Afghans who helped the US during the war in their homeland. He was granted asylum under Mr Trump.
In a call on the Nov 27 Thanksgiving holiday with US military service members, Mr Trump said the shootings were a “terrorist attack”.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds on Nov 27. Her National Guard colleague, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, is in critical condition, Ms Pirro said on Nov 28. The two were in Washington as part of Mr Trump’s deployment of the military in recent months to help the police fight crime in the city.
On the morning of Nov 28, following the national holiday, notably fewer National Guard members were seen patrolling the capital.
Trump rachets up rhetoric on immigration
Mr Trump, whose dispatch of troops to Washington faces fierce legal challenges, took to social media late on Nov 27 to escalate his rhetoric on immigration. Since taking office this year, he has stepped up arrests of immigrants, including some in the US legally, and cracked down on unlawful border crossings while stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of people.
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States,” Mr Trump said in his social media posts, referring to his predecessor in the White House.
He did not say which countries he considers “Third World”, nor what he meant by a permanent pause. It echoed the sweeping “Muslim ban” he tried to enact in his first term before it was diluted by successful legal challenges.
On Nov 28, Mr Trump posted again on social media to say he was rescinding any document that Mr Biden signed using an autopen, a tool that US presidents, including Mr Trump, have used for decades, often to answer mail or sign cheques, or sometimes to meet authorisation deadlines while travelling outside the capital.
After taking office in 2021, Mr Biden reversed many of the restrictive immigration policies of Mr Trump’s first term, saying they blocked people in need of humanitarian protection and were discriminatory.
Asked about Mr Trump’s comment on “Third World” countries, the US Department of Homeland Security referred Reuters to 19 countries listed in a June travel ban.
On Nov 27, Homeland Security officials said Mr Trump had ordered a widespread review of asylum cases approved under the Biden administration and permanent-residency green cards issued to citizens of the 19 countries, which include Afghanistan.
Mr Jorge Loweree, the managing director of programmes and strategy at the American Immigration Council, said the president does not have authority through executive action to make permanent changes to the immigration system, which is codified by Congress. He warned of chaos and disarray in the US immigration system even if Mr Trump is ultimately blocked by federal courts.
Shooting prompts sweeping immigration reviews
Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Mr Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome. More than 70,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States under the programme for those fearing reprisal by the Taliban forces, who seized control of Afghanistan after the US military’s withdrawal.
Officials said Lakanwal was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan before coming to the US.
He was granted asylum this year under Mr Trump, according to a US government file on him seen by Reuters.
Investigators said Lakanwal drove across the country from his home in the state of Washington and shot the two Guardsmen with a powerful revolver, a .357 Magnum, before being wounded in an exchange of gunfire with other troops.
Members of the National Guard walk near a makeshift memorial on Nov 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Less than 24 hours after the shooting, Trump officials began ordering widespread reviews of immigration policies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Nov 28 he would be proposing regulations to ensure that people he referred to as “illegal aliens” do not receive certain credits on income tax they have paid. The tax code is set by Congress, which already limits what kind of benefits, if any, non-citizens are eligible to seek.
Lakanwal lives in Washington state with his wife and five children, according to investigators. Asked whether he was planning to deport the suspect’s family, Mr Trump said: “We’re looking at the whole situation with family.”
International groups defend asylum seeker rights
United Nations agencies urged the US on the night of Nov 28 to continue allowing asylum seekers access to the country, including due process rights, in keeping with international law.
“We expect all countries, including the United States, to honour their commitments under the 1953 Refugee Convention,” said Mr Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general.
Ms Jasmin Lilian Diab, director of the Institute for Migration at the Lebanese American University, said freezing Afghan applications or reconsidering thousands of approved asylum claims would disrupt families and local communities.
“While the recent incident is tragic, using an isolated incident to justify mass restrictions is inconsistent with evidence showing no link between refugee arrivals and increased crime,” she said in an interview. REUTERS
