Suspension of Asylum Requests in the United States; Trump Reacts to Attack by Afghan National

Following the incident in which an Afghan national opened fire on two U.S. National Guard members on Wednesday, reports now indicate that all asylum requests have been halted.

According to Rokna, citing The Guardian, a senior U.S. immigration official announced that the Trump administration has suspended all asylum applications in the wake of the shooting targeting National Guard personnel in Washington, D.C.

Joseph Edlow, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, stated in a post on the social media platform X that all asylum requests will remain suspended “until we can ensure that every foreign individual is vetted and screened to the highest degree possible.”

The Guardian writes that this action comes after the District of Columbia attorney general announced that charges against the individual who shot the two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder following the death of one of the victims. Meanwhile, investigators are still seeking to determine the motive behind the crime.

Sarah Bäckström, a 20-year-old specialist soldier, and Andrew Wolfe, a 24-year-old sergeant, were critically wounded and hospitalized on Wednesday evening local time after being shot by an Afghan national. Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday night that Bäckström had died from her injuries.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national responsible for the attack, is 29 years old and reportedly collaborated with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan.