US suspends all decisions on asylum claims following National Guard shooting

The Trump administration is suspending all asylum determinations following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC, as stated by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Joseph Edlow.

On Friday, in a message on X, Edlow indicated that the suspension would remain effective “until we can guarantee that each alien is thoroughly vetted and screened to the utmost extent possible”.

This declaration comes shortly after President Donald Trump vowed to “permanently halt migration” to the US from all “developing nations”.

On Thursday, Trump revealed that a US National Guard member had succumbed to her injuries sustained from Wednesday’s shooting, for which an Afghan national has been held responsible.

Officials at the USCIS, part of the Department of Homeland Security, were directed to avoid approving, rejecting, or closing asylum requests submitted to the agency for all nationalities, according to reports from CBS News, the BBC’s US affiliate.

As per the instructions reviewed by CBS, officials could continue processing asylum claims and examining cases until they reached the decision-making stage.

“When you reach decision entry, cease and hold,” read the directive.

Details regarding both Friday’s order and Trump’s preceding statements remain scarce.

Trump did not specify which countries may be impacted by his proposal. This move might encounter legal obstacles and has already incited opposition from UN organizations.

Both statements followed Wednesday’s deadly incident and symbolize an additional hardening of the Trump administration’s policy towards migrants during his second term.

In addition to other measures, Trump has pursued mass deportations of migrants who entered the US unlawfully, intended to significantly reduce the yearly quota of refugee admissions, and seeking to eliminate automatic citizenship rights that currently apply to almost anyone born on US soil.

In response to Wednesday’s shooting, Trump committed to expelling any foreigner “from any nation who does not belong here”. On the same day, the US ceased processing all immigration applications from Afghans, announcing the decision was made pending a review of “security and vetting protocols”.

Then on Thursday, the USCIS announced it would reassess green cards given to individuals who had immigrated to the US from 19 nations. The agency did not directly reference Wednesday’s incident.

When queried by the BBC regarding which nations were included, the USCIS referred to a June proclamation by the White House that listed Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, and Venezuela. Further specifics regarding the nature of the reassessment were not provided.

Trump’s strongly articulated two-part statement on Thursday night extended further, promising to “terminate all federal assistance and subsidies to noncitizens”.

The US president stated on Truth Social that this would “enable the US system to fully recuperate” from policies that had diminished the “accomplishments and daily lives” of many Americans.

In his message, the president also held refugees responsible for contributing to the “social disarray in America” and pledged to eliminate “anyone who is not a net contributor” to the US.

He asserted that “hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia were entirely taking over the once thriving State of Minnesota” and singled out the state’s Democratic legislators for particular criticism.

“I will impose a permanent halt on migration from all Developing Nations to facilitate the US system’s complete recovery,” the president stated.

The term “developing nations” was historically employed to refer to poorer, less developed countries.

Earlier this year, the president had enacted a travel prohibition on nationals from Afghanistan and 11 other countries, primarily from Africa and Asia. Another travel ban focused on several majority-Muslim nations was established during his first administration.

The UN’s reaction to Trump’s remarks involved urging his administration to comply with international treaties concerning asylum seekers.

“We anticipate that all nations, including the United States, will fulfill their obligations under the 1953 Refugee Convention,” the deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general communicated to Reuters.

Trump’s response constituted a “scapegoating” of migrants residing in the US, argued Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

In a discussion with the BBC World Service’s Newsday program prior to Trump’s recent statements, Mr. McKinney emphasized that the assailant’s motive remained unclear.

“These types of issues – they don’t recognize skin color, they don’t acknowledge nationality,” he explained. “When an individual becomes radicalized or is experiencing some form of mental health issue, that person can originate from any background.”

The series of announcements follows officials stating that the suspect in the Washington DC shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had arrived in the US in 2021.

He immigrated under a program providing special immigration safeguards for Afghans who collaborated with US forces after the American exit from Afghanistan.

Mr. Lakanwal had formerly worked with the CIA, according to the agency’s current director.

Mr. Lakanwal would have undergone thorough vetting by the US both when he began his collaboration with the CIA and upon arriving in the US, as stated by a senior US official who spoke to CNN.

A childhood acquaintance informed the New York Times that Mr. Lakanwal faced mental health challenges following his engagement with his unit.

Mr. Lakanwal later submitted an asylum request in 2024. His application was reportedly approved earlier this year after Trump reclaimed the presidency.

However, his green card petition, which is associated with the asylum grant, is still under consideration, a Homeland Security official informed CBS.

The suspect was apprehended following the incident and was said to be uncooperative with officials. Trump categorized the event as an “act of terror”.

The next day, he announced that one of the two National Guard members who were shot had passed away.

Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old from West Virginia, was stationed in the city as part of Trump’s deployment of National Guard personnel to tackle crime.

She volunteered to serve in DC during the US Thanksgiving holiday, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The second National Guard member, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was reported by Trump to be “fighting for his life”.

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