The Trump administration has announced it is halting all asylum decisions in the wake of the National Guard shooting in Washington DC, according to a senior immigration official.
Joseph Edlow, the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a post on X on Friday that asylum decisions would be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.
The announcement came as charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the US attorney for the District of Columbia announced on Friday, while investigators continue to seek a motive.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24 were hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. Donald Trump said on Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died.
US attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war, now included one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission that federalized the DC police force. The president also has deployed or tried to deploy National Guard members to other cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts but has faced court challenges.
Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with US forces during the Afghanistan war to enter the US. Trump has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.
In an interview on Fox News, Pirro said there were “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge. She said her heart went out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC”.
Pirro said officials had been working around the clock to determine the suspect’s motive. Investigators were executing warrants in the state of Washington, where Lakanwal lived, and other parts of the country.
Wolfe remained in “very critical condition”, West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey said on Friday. He ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Beckstrom’s death.
Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 80 miles (130km) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.
Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that resettled Afghans after the US withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
In a Thanksgiving address to troops Thursday, Trump said Lakanwal “went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts.”
On Wednesday night, the president called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration initiative that brought roughly 76,000 people to the country, many of whom had worked as interpreters and translators.
The program has faced intense scrutiny from Trump and others over allegations of gaps in the vetting process, even as advocates say there was extensive vetting and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.
