Visas and asylum applications have been suspended following the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C.
The US State Department announced it would “immediately” suspend issuing visas to individuals traveling on Afghan passports to protect “public safety,” as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown escalates following the attack on two National Guard members.
Friday’s announcement came as U.S. immigration officials announced they were also suspending decisions on all asylum applications for the time being.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a post on X on Friday that the State Department has “suspended visa issuance for all individuals traveling on Afghan passports.”
The move comes after authorities named Rahmanaullah Rakanwal, an Afghan national, as the main suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, D.C., that killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition.
“There is no greater priority for the United States than protecting our nation and its people,” Rubio said.
President Trump’s State Department has suspended visa issuance for all individuals traveling with Afghan passports.
For the United States, there is no greater priority than protecting our nation and its people. https://t.co/HuR1Lj7F9t
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 28, 2025
Rakanwal allegedly ambushed West Virginia National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolf in an unprovoked attack while they were patrolling near the White House.
The Trump administration confirmed Thursday night that Beckstrom, 20, had died from his injuries and Wolf, 24, remained in critical condition.
The CIA confirmed this week that Lakhanwal worked for an Afghan spy agency before immigrating to the United States shortly after Western forces withdrew from the country in 2021.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office for the District of Columbia announced Friday that the charges against Lakhanwal have been upgraded to first-degree murder in addition to two counts of armed assault with intent to kill.
In a separate announcement Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said the agency had suspended all asylum decisions citing “the safety of the American people.”
“USCIS has suspended all asylum decisions until all aliens have access to the maximum possible amount of screening and testing,” Edlow said in a post on X.
A day earlier, Edlow said Trump had ordered a “full and rigorous review of all green cards for all foreign nationals from all countries of concern.”
The move is the latest in a series of measures to tighten restrictions on entry into the United States at President Trump’s request.
Trump, who called the deadly shootings in Washington, D.C., a “terrorist attack,” has repeatedly attacked former President Joe Biden’s administration’s immigration policies in recent days, including issuing visas to Afghans who worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Lakhanwal came to the US under a Biden administration-era program known as Operation Welcoming Allies, following the US withdrawal in 2021.
In a post on his platform Truth Social on Thursday, President Trump ordered authorities to review all green card applications from 19 “countries of concern” before revealing plans to suspend entry from “all third world countries.”
Although he did not define the term “Third World,” the phrase is often used as shorthand for developing countries in the Global South.
President Trump also said he would “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States or incapable of loving our country.”
“We will denaturalize immigrants who undermine internal peace, and we will deport foreigners who are publicly responsible, pose a security risk, or are incompatible with Western civilization,” he said.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has already taken aggressive steps to restrict immigration, announcing in October that his administration would admit only 7,500 refugees in 2026, the lowest number since 1980.
