Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Sunday that the suspect in the National Guard shooting in Washington DC was “radicalized” in the US and blamed the Biden administration, even though the suspect was granted asylum under Donald Trump.
The shooting suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025. He came to the US in September 2021 under the Operation Ally’s Welcome program and worked with CIA-backed units in Afghanistan.
“We believe he has become radicalized since he has been in this country,” Noem said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we will continue to talk to people who interacted with him, who were his family members, who spoke to him.”
The Trump administration used the shooting as justification for stopping and reviewing asylum and green card applications.
Noem claimed that “vetigation is done when they come into the country, and under Joe Biden’s administration it was completely abandoned”.
“That’s all the investigative information that was collected by the Biden administration,” Noem said. “The entire investigative process took place under Joe Biden’s administration.”
Noem also denied that she disobeyed the judge’s order when she ordered deportation flights to El Salvador to continue, instead blaming “activists” and “radical” judges.
The comments came in response to a question on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday about whether Noem had decided earlier this year to continue deportation flights for Venezuelan immigrants, as the Justice Department has alleged.
“We will continue to do the right thing, continue to work and protect Americans, no matter what radical judge comes out and tries to stop us,” Noem said.
Noem also appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, where she confirmed that the flights were her decision.
Noem said, “Yes, I made that decision and that decision was within my absolute authority and following the law, the Constitution and the leadership of this President who is dedicated to driving dangerous criminal terrorists and gangs and cartels out of our country.” “This is an activist judge and I think, you know, we’re still in litigation against this activist judge who has consistently tried to prevent us from protecting the American people.”
The Justice Department claimed that the decision did not violate the judge’s order. US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington DC had already ordered deportation flights to return to the US by March 2025, but Noem ordered air flights already taking Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador to continue, with the Justice Department claiming the detainees are no longer on US territory.
Boasberg is undergoing a contempt investigation into whether the Trump administration disregarded his March court order.
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