U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to suspend migration from what he described as “Third World countries” following a deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one National Guard soldier dead and another critically injured.
The move marks one of the sharpest escalations yet in Trump’s second-term immigration policy, coming amid a sweeping nationwide deportation campaign and growing political tension over the use of military personnel in domestic policing.
The incident at the center of the uproar occurred Wednesday near the White House, where authorities say a 29-year-old Afghan national opened fire on a group of National Guard troops on patrol. Trump confirmed Thursday that 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, a West Virginia National Guard member deployed as part of the administration’s crime-crackdown initiative, had died from her injuries. Another soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remained in critical condition.
The FBI has launched an international terrorism investigation as officials work to determine the motive behind what the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, described as a “brazen and targeted” ambush. The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was also seriously injured during the confrontation.
Trump responded with a forceful statement on social media, vowing to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.” He also threatened to overturn “millions” of immigration admissions granted under former president Joe Biden and pledged to remove “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.”
The president drew a direct connection between the shooting and his decision to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to major U.S. cities, suggesting the attacker “might have been upset because he couldn’t practice crime.”
Joseph Edlow, the administration’s director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of every green card issued to immigrants from designated “countries of concern.” The agency referenced a list of 19 countries—including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, and Myanmar—already under travel restrictions from a previous Trump directive.
Officials later confirmed that the processing of all immigration applications from Afghanistan had been halted immediately.
Further complicating the political fallout, CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed that the suspect had previously served in a CIA-backed Afghan partner force before being evacuated to the U.S. under a program for Afghans who assisted American operations during the war.
However, AfghanEvac—an organization involved in resettling Afghan allies—challenged claims of weak vetting, stressing that evacuees undergo some of the most rigorous security screening in U.S. immigration. The group noted that Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025 under the current administration.
“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver.
In the wake of the attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an additional 500 troops to Washington, raising the total number of deployed National Guard members in the capital to 2,500. The administration has also sent forces to several Democrat-led cities, including Los Angeles and Memphis—moves that have sparked lawsuits and strengthened accusations of federal overreach.
Authorities say the investigation remains ongoing, with no confirmed motive yet for the deadly attack.
Comments