Trump administration to re-examine green card holders from 19 countries ‘of concern’
President Donald Trump has ordered the federal agency that oversees legal immigration to the United States to conduct a thorough review of green card holders from what the administration calls countries of concern, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Thursday.
“Under the leadership of @POTUS, I have led a rigorous, large-scale review of every green card for every alien from every country of concern,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement on X on Thursday afternoon.
Edlow said protecting the country “remains paramount” and that “the American people will not bear the cost of the previous administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”
Asked which countries were considered “concerning,” USCIS pointed to a June presidential proclamation listing 19 countries “considered deficient in screening and enforcement.” Afghanistan is one of the countries on the list, which also includes Haiti, Iran and Venezuela.
Thursday’s announcement comes a day after a shooting near the White House that left two National Guard members in critical condition. Federal prosecutors say the suspect, an Afghan national who once aided U.S. forces, was resettled in the United States under a program called Operation Allies Welcome under the Biden administration following the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Thursday morning that her office was reviewing the suspect’s immigration history and the vetting process that allowed his entry into the country.
A source familiar with the case and another law enforcement source told NBC News that the suspect was granted asylum this year.
Two members of the West Virginia National Guard – identified as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24 – remain in critical condition following the attack. They were in Washington as part of Trump’s deployment of federal troops to several U.S. cities.
In a video released by the White House, Trump called the attack a “terrorist act” and said additional National Guard troops would be deployed to Washington.
The administration said shortly after Trump’s remarks that all immigration applications involving Afghan nationals will be suspended indefinitely.
Authorities did not provide a motive, but D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said “this was a targeted shooting” and that the suspect appeared to be targeting Guard members.
Four senior police sources briefed on the investigation said the suspect had been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.
Speaking to NBC News on Wednesday, a relative of Lakanwal said he arrived in the United States in September 2021 after serving in the Afghan army for 10 years, alongside U.S. special forces. Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children, his relative said.
“It was us who were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” explained this relative. “I can’t believe he could do that.”
A CIA spokesperson said Thursday that the suspected shooter “previously worked with the United States Government (U.S. Government), including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
