US Halts Asylum Processing Following National Guard Incident in Washington D.C.

The United States administration has temporarily halted the review of all pending asylum applications. This decisive action follows a serious incident that occurred on November 27th in Washington D.C. Tragically, the event resulted in injuries to two National Guard service members, one of whom, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.

Joseph Edlow, the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), officially announced this pause on rendering decisions for asylum cases. The suspension will remain in effect until the agency can guarantee the highest possible level of vetting and screening for every foreign national seeking entry. The individual suspected of carrying out the attack has been identified as 29-year-old Rahmmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who arrived in the U.S. in 2021 through the special immigrant visa program established for allies following the American troop withdrawal.

Available records indicate that Lakanwal initially filed for asylum during the Joe Biden administration, and his status was subsequently confirmed this year under the Donald Trump administration. The incident, which took place near the White House perimeter, was immediately characterized by President Trump as a terrorist act. Authorities are currently investigating the shooting as a potential act of international terrorism, and Lakanwal faces a first-degree murder charge.

In direct response to the violence, the Trump administration signaled an imminent tightening of immigration policies. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the issuance of visas for all individuals traveling with Afghan passports would be immediately suspended. Rubio emphasized that national security remains the paramount concern guiding these decisions.

Furthermore, President Trump has expressed his intention to cease immigration from what he termed all 'third-world countries.' He also proposed rescinding federal subsidies provided to undocumented immigrants and moving to strip citizenship from migrants deemed a threat to public order. These proposed measures have drawn considerable backlash from human rights advocacy groups.

Representatives from AfghanEvac, specifically Sean Van Diver, argue that this isolated criminal act is being exploited as a convenient pretext to implement long-planned, severe restrictions targeting the entire migrant community. Legal experts have cautioned that such a sweeping reassessment of immigration statuses, including the proposed review of all green cards, will demand substantial resources and could easily trigger protracted bureaucratic backlogs.

The moratorium on asylum processing encompasses every category of applicant, including citizens of Ukraine. Alongside the late Sarah Beckstrom, the second injured guard, 24-year-old Andrew Woolf, remained in critical condition following the attack. In a related security measure, the Department of Defense deployed an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington D.C. The suspect, Lakanwal, reportedly served ten years in the Afghan army alongside U.S. special forces and sustained injuries during his apprehension. Officials are still working diligently to establish the complete motive behind his actions.