Trump Announces Crackdown on Afghans Brought Under Biden’s 2021 Operation Allies Welcome

President Donald Trump has sharply blamed the Biden administration's 2021 Afghan evacuation airlift for enabling the deadly ambush of two National Guard members near the White House, calling the suspected shooter a "savage monster" from a "hellhole on Earth" and labeling the incident a "terrorist attack." In a video address from Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, Trump announced the death of 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia, who succumbed to her wounds, while her fellow Guardsman, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition. The attack occurred Wednesday afternoon near the Farragut West metro station, where the pair was patrolling amid heightened security in the capital. The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was arrested at the scene after allegedly firing at point-blank range; he had entered the U.S. in September 2021 via Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program that resettled tens of thousands of Afghans following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.

Lakanwal, who had worked with CIA-backed local forces in Afghanistan before his evacuation, applied for asylum in 2024 and received it under the Trump administration in April 2025, according to officials. Trump seized on this timeline to criticize predecessor Joe Biden, asserting that the "infamous flights" brought in "unknown and unvetted foreigners" without proper screening, exacerbating national security risks. "Nobody knew who was coming in; nobody knew anything about it," Trump said, vowing a full reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees admitted during Biden's term. The FBI, treating the shooting as a terrorism probe, has searched properties linked to Lakanwal, including a home in Washington state, while CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed the suspect's prior U.S. ties ended post-evacuation but provided no further details on motives.

In response to the tragedy, Trump's administration swiftly announced sweeping immigration restrictions on Thursday, including an immediate and indefinite halt to processing all applications from Afghan Nationals pending a security and vetting overhaul. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed the pause, emphasizing the suspect's entry under Biden's program as evidence of systemic failures. The measures extend to a "rigorous" reexamination of asylum cases and green cards issued to citizens of 19 "countries of concern," potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of refugees admitted between January 2021 and February 2025. Trump further declared intentions to "permanently pause migration from all Third World countries" to allow the system to "fully recover," while directing the cessation of federal benefits and subsidies for noncitizens.

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The announcements have ignited fierce political debate, with Trump framing illegal immigration as "the single greatest security threat facing our nation" and ordering an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., where about 2,375 are already deployed under a "crime emergency" declaration since August. Critics, including Afghan evacuee advocates like Shawn VanDiver of #AfghanEvac, decried the moves as politicizing a tragedy, warning they could endanger vulnerable Taliban escapees without addressing root vetting issues. Supporters, such as Vice President JD Vance, praised the response as "entirely appropriate," urging swift deportations of those without legal standing.

The incident unfolds against a backdrop of escalating tensions in the capital, where National Guard presence has surged to support law enforcement amid urban crime concerns. Taliban spokespersons in Kabul distanced themselves from the attack, reiterating their policy against using Afghan soil for foreign operations. As the FBI widens its probe into Lakanwal's potential radicalization—despite his U.S. government collaborations—the shooting has amplified calls for immigration reform, with Trump's team accelerating pre-existing efforts to slash legal migration pathways.

With Beckstrom's family mourning and Wolfe's recovery uncertain, the administration's hardline pivot underscores a renewed focus on border security, promising deportations and policy overhauls that could reshape U.S. refugee admissions for years. As investigations continue, the ambush serves as a stark reminder of the lingering fallout from America's longest war, blending grief with geopolitical reckoning in the heart of the nation's capital.

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