Updated on: November 27, 2025 / 1:10 AM EST / CBS News
Federal immigration authorities said Wednesday they have paused processing requests from Afghan nationals after a man who entered the U.S. from Afghanistan was identified as the suspect in a shooting that wounded two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a statement that the “processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” effective immediately.
The announcement followed the Department of Homeland Security’s public identification of the suspected shooter as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. in 2021 under the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome. The suspect was shot by a Guard member at the scene and is now in custody.
President Trump said after the shooting: “We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”
The U.S. military evacuated tens of thousands from Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. withdrew and the Taliban returned to power. Upward of 85,000 Afghans were settled in the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome; many were initially housed at military bases after processing.
Some Afghans qualified for Special Immigrant Visas, offered to people employed by the U.S. government, including interpreters who faced retribution for aiding U.S. forces. That program faced years of backlogs. Others applied for asylum, or for visas based on family ties to U.S. citizens or green card holders. Many were granted humanitarian parole or temporary protected status, which left some without a clear pathway to permanent residency unless they qualified for another status.
A Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News the shooting suspect was paroled into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds in 2021. Lakanwal later applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2024 and his application was granted in 2025, the official said. His green card application, tied to the asylum grant, is pending.
More than 8,000 people from Afghanistan were granted deportation relief under temporary protected status, which Biden extended in 2023 but Mr. Trump chose to end earlier this year.
Members of both parties have expressed support for assisting Afghans who helped U.S. forces, and the Biden administration has emphasized that evacuees underwent security vetting. Some Republican officials, however, have long questioned whether vetting processes were rigorous or complete enough.
The nonprofit AfghanEvac condemned Wednesday’s attack but urged people “not to demonize the Afghan community for the deranged choice this person made,” noting immigrants from Afghanistan “undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country.” AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver warned that using the incident to attack Afghan families would exploit division and endanger communities.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
