Trump pushes for more restrictions on Afghan refugees. Experts say many are already in place

The Trump administration is promising an even tougher anti-immigration agenda after an Afghan national was indicted this week for shooting two National Guard members, with new restrictions targeting the tens of thousands of Afghans resettled in the United States and those seeking to come, many of whom served alongside American soldiers during the two-decade war.

But those still waiting were already facing tougher measures under the sweeping crackdown on legal and illegal immigration launched by President Donald Trump during his second term in January. And Afghan immigrants living in the United States and now in the administration’s crosshairs were among the most carefully vetted, often subject to years of security screening, experts and advocates say.

The suspected shooter, who worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan, “was examined before he landed, probably once he landed, and once he applied for asylum,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. “But more importantly, he was certainly the subject of a thorough investigation and much more by the CIA.”

Haris Tarin, a former U.S. official who worked on the Biden-era Afghan resettlement program, predicted that “as the investigation unfolds, you will see that this is not a selection failure. It’s a failure of our failure to integrate – not just foreign intelligence and military personnel – but our own veterans, over the last 25 years. »

The Operations Allies Welcome program initially brought about 76,000 Afghans to the United States, many of whom had worked alongside American troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. The initiative lasted about a year before transitioning to a longer-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. Nearly 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States under the two programs.

Among those brought to the United States under the program was the suspected shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who now faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20. The other National Guard member who was shot, 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition.

These relocations are now suspended. The State Department has temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to all individuals traveling on Afghan passports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday evening.

Trump and his allies used the shooting to criticize flaws in the U.S. selection process and the speed of admissions, even as some Republicans have spent the months and years since the 2021 withdrawal criticizing the Biden administration for not moving quickly enough to approve some applications from Afghan allies.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal “should never have been allowed to come here,” Trump called lax migration policies “the greatest national security threat facing our country,” and Vice President JD Vance said Biden’s policies “opened the floodgates to unchecked Afghan refugees.”

That rhetoric quickly turned into policy announcements, with Trump saying he would “permanently suspend all migration” from a list of nearly 20 countries, “end Biden’s millions of illegal admissions” and “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.” Many of these changes had already been implemented through a series of executive orders over the past ten months, most recently in June.

“They highlight practices that were already in place,” said Andrea Flores, a lawyer and immigration policy adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations.

Lakanwal applied for asylum under the Biden administration, and his request was approved in April of this year after undergoing extensive review, according to #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who helped the United States during the war.

Flores said the system has worked in every administration: “You can hear people say, ‘Well, he got asylum under Trump. That’s Trump’s problem.’ This is not how our immigration system works. It relies on the same bedding. No asylum law has really been changed by Congress.”

Trump and other U.S. officials used the attack to demand a review of all those who came to the United States from Afghanistan, a country he called “hell on Earth” on Thursday.

“These policies were already creating widespread disruption and fear among legally admitted families. What is new and deeply troubling is the attempt to retroactively tie all of this to a single act of violence in a way that casts suspicion on entire nationalities, including Afghan allies who risked their lives to protect our troops,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement Friday.

This has left the nearly 200,000 Afghans currently living in the United States in deep fear and shame over the actions of someone in their community. Those living in the United States now worry about having their legal status revoked, while others, awaiting immigration here and abroad, wait in limbo.

Nesar, a 22-year-old Afghan who arrived in America a few weeks after the fall of Kabul, said he was just beginning to assimilate to life in the United States when the attack occurred Wednesday. He agreed to speak to the AP on the condition that only his first name be used for fear of reprisals or being targeted by immigration officials.

“Life had finally become easier for me. I learned to speak English. I found a better job,” he said. “But after this happened two days ago, I honestly went to the grocery store this morning and I felt so uncomfortable among all these people. I was like, maybe they’re looking at me now the same way the shooter did.”

Two days before the shooting, Nesar and his father, who worked for the Afghan president during the war, received an interview on Dec. 13 for their green card application, something they had been working toward for four years. However, he says it is now unclear whether their application will be successful or whether their interview will take place.

Another Afghan national, who also spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said that after fearing for his life under Taliban rule, he felt a sense of peace and hope when he finally received a special immigrant visa to come to the United States two years ago.

He said he believes he can use his experience as a defense attorney in Afghanistan to contribute to American society. But now, he says, the actions of an “extremist who, despite benefitting from the security and livelihood provided by this country, ungratefully attacked two American soldiers” will once again bring him and other Afghans under scrutiny.

“It seems that every time a terrorist commits a crime, their shadow falls on me simply because I come from Afghanistan,” he added.

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Associated Press writer Renata Brito contributed to this report from Barcelona, ​​Spain.