Donald Trump said Thursday that he would suspend migration from what he called “third world countries,” a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one.
The declaration posted in an angry social media message that also threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden marked a fresh escalation in the anti-migration agenda that has defined Trump’s second term and his sweeping mass-deportation campaign.
Trump earlier announced that Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in the capital as part of his crime-crackdown initiative, had died from her wounds. The FBI has opened an international terrorism investigation as new details emerged about the alleged gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national who had previously served alongside US forces in Afghanistan.
The ambush-style attack Wednesday has fused three politically volatile issues: Trump’s contentious domestic use of the military, the administration’s hard-line immigration policies, and the lasting fallout from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover,” Trump wrote. He reiterated that he would reverse “millions” of admissions approved under Biden and vowed to “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.”
Speaking during a Thanksgiving video call with US troops, the Republican president added: “I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation at the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation’s capital.” He linked the shooting to his decision to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington. “If they weren’t effective, you probably wouldn’t have had this done,” he said. “Maybe this man was upset because he couldn’t practice crime.”
Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” USCIS later pointed to a list of 19 countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar already facing travel restrictions under a Trump order issued in June. The administration had earlier halted all processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.
Gunned down in ‘brazen’ attack
The second soldier wounded in Wednesday’s shooting 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe was “fighting for his life” on Thursday, Trump said. The suspected gunman was also hospitalized in serious condition.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said the alleged assailant identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal had been living in Washington state and drove across the country to the capital. In what she described as a “brazen and targeted” attack, he opened fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver on a patrol of guardsmen only blocks from the White House.
Lakanwal has been charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill — charges that would be upgraded to first-degree murder if any of the soldiers die. Officials said they had yet to determine a motive.
Afghan legacy
CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban and was brought to the United States under an evacuation program for Afghans who worked with the agency. Senior Trump officials, including the heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security, insisted Lakanwal obtained unvetted access to the United States because of what they called lax asylum procedures after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden.
But AfghanEvac, an organization that assisted with Afghan resettlement, stressed that such applicants undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrant group. The organization noted that Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration and would have become eligible to apply for permanent residency a year later.
“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver.
In response to the attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that 500 additional troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500. Trump has dispatched troops to several Democratic-led cities including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis drawing lawsuits and accusations of authoritarian overreach.
AFP
