The Trump administration has ordered an immediate halt to all asylum decisions in the United States following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC, an attack that left one dead and another critically wounded.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow confirmed the suspension on Friday, saying the agency would pause decisions “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.
The directive, issued to asylum officers nationwide, instructs them not to approve, deny, or close any asylum application for the time being, according to reporting from CBS News.
The move came only hours after President Donald Trump pledged to “permanently pause migration” from what he described as “Third World Countries”, part of a sweeping set of immigration actions announced after the attack.
Broader Immigration Actions Follow the Attack
Officials have accused an Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, of carrying out Wednesday’s shooting. In the immediate aftermath, the administration stopped issuing visas to Afghans through the same programme under which the suspect entered the US. That pause was later expanded to include all pending Afghan immigration requests while authorities conduct a formal review.
The administration has also directed USCIS to re-examine previously issued green cards for migrants from 19 countries. Those nations include Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela, as listed in a June presidential proclamation. The agency has not yet detailed how that reassessment will be carried out.
Trump has used the attack to justify further restrictions, repeating claims that refugees have contributed to “social dysfunction in America” and asserting that “anyone who is not a net asset” to the country should be removed. He also vowed to “end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-citizens”.
Trump did not specify which countries might be included in a broader migration freeze. Any such move would likely face legal challenges and scrutiny from international bodies. The UN has urged Washington to uphold its obligations to asylum seekers, Reuters has reported.
Criticism and Legal Concerns
Immigration advocates say the administration is exploiting the attack to justify long-standing political goals. Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the BBC World Service before the latest White House announcements that Trump was “scapegoating” migrants. He stressed that the motive for the attack remained uncertain and noted that “radicalisation and mental illness could affect anyone,” adding: “These types of issues – they don’t know skin colour, they don’t know nationality.”
Details on the Shooting Suspect
Officials say the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, arrived in the United States in 2021 under a programme for Afghans who had worked with US forces or intelligence agencies during the war in Afghanistan. A former member of Afghanistan’s security forces told CBS that Lakanwal had previously served in a CIA-linked “Zero Unit,” an elite paramilitary group considered among the most capable US-aligned forces in the country.
US officials say Lakanwal would have undergone US vetting both when he began work with the CIA and again before travelling to the United States. A childhood friend told the New York Times that Lakanwal had struggled with mental health issues after his service.
He was reportedly granted asylum after Trump returned to office, though his application for a permanent resident green card remains pending, according to US officials.
Ongoing Fallout
The administration’s rapid sequence of immigration restrictions marks a further escalation of Trump’s long-promised second-term crackdown. He has already pushed for mass deportations, cuts to refugee admissions and an end to automatic citizenship for many people born on US soil.
Immigration agencies are now awaiting further guidance on the nationwide asylum freeze, which remains in effect with few details on how long it will last or how cases will be handled once the review is complete.
