US suspends immigration requests for Afghans after National Guard shooting

US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the US has suspended processing of all immigration requests for Afghan citizens until a review of “security and screening protocols”.

In a post on X, the agency said: “The safety and security of our homeland and the American people is our sole focus and mission.”

The decision comes after two National Guard soldiers were seriously injured in shooting near the White House. The alleged gunman was an Afghan national who entered the US in September 2021.

US President Donald Trump said the attack was a “terrorist act”, adding that he would “take steps to remove from any country aliens who do not belong here”.

Thousands of Afghans entered the US under special immigration protections following the chaotic US withdrawal from the country in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.

Multiple law enforcement sources previously told the BBC’s US affiliate CBS identified the alleged gunman as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the country under a program called Operation Ally’s Welcome.

In a statement after the shooting, Trump said the US “must now double-check every single alien entering our country from Afghanistan” under Biden.

The latest order comes on top of a US travel ban imposed by Trump on citizens of Afghanistan and 11 other countries earlier this year.

Afghan nationals holding special immigration visas, which were available to those working directly with US forces before the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, were among the few exceptions to the sweeping restrictions.

Earlier this year, Trump also ended a program that provided deportation protection to thousands of people from Afghanistan.

The Temporary Protected Status program allowed immigrants to obtain work permits if the U.S. government deemed it unsafe to return to their home countries due to war.