State Division pauses Afghan visas after D.C. assault kills Guard member

The Division of State has paused all visas for people touring on Afghan passports after an assault in Washington, D.C., Wednesday concentrating on Nationwide Guard members.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan nationwide, was charged with first-degree homicide amongst different counts associated to the ambush, which has since claimed the lifetime of West Virginia Nationwide Guard Military Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded U.S. Air Drive Workers Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

Lakanwal was vetted by the CIA in Afghanistan and granted last asylum approval underneath President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this 12 months, a number of sources instructed Fox Information Digital.

“The Division of State has IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for people touring on Afghan passports,” the company wrote in an announcement on social media. “The Division is taking all crucial steps to guard U.S. nationwide safety and public security.”

LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONDING AFTER 2 NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS SHOT NEAR WHITE HOUSE

Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally took to X to share the information.

“President Trump’s State Division has paused visa issuance for ALL people touring on Afghan passports,” Rubio wrote in a put up. “The US has no greater precedence than defending our nation and our folks.”

U.S.-based Afghanistan allies relocation and resettlement nonprofit AfghanEvac denounced Friday’s choice, calling the administration’s transfer a “violation of federal regulation.” 

“It seems Secretary Rubio is making an attempt to close down the Afghan Particular Immigrant Visa program in direct violation of federal regulation and standing court docket orders. He’s seemingly appearing on the path of President Trump and Stephen Miller, and there’s no doubt that is the end result they’ve been driving towards for months,” AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver stated in a press release. 

“They’re utilizing a single violent particular person as cowl for a coverage they’ve lengthy deliberate, turning their very own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish a complete neighborhood and the veterans who served alongside them.”

VANCE’S PAST WARNINGS REIGNITE AFTER AFGHAN NATIONAL NAMED AS SUSPECT IN DC GUARD SHOOTING

Two Nationwide Guard troopers have been shot Wednesday blocks from the White Home in Washington, D.C. Alleged gunman Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been charged with first-degree homicide. (AP Photograph/Anthony Peltier; Division of Justice)

The brand new coverage comes lower than a day after the media questioned Trump about how the assault may have taken place after profitable vetting.

“I imply, he went nuts, and that occurs. It occurs too typically with these folks,” Trump instructed reporters from his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida. “There was no vetting or something. … We have now numerous others on this nation, and we’ll get them out, however they go cuckoo. One thing occurs to them.”

Trump famous “in the case of asylum, after they’re flown in, it’s extremely arduous to get them out. Irrespective of the way you wish to do it, it’s extremely arduous to get them out. However we’ll be getting all of them out now.”

Nationwide Guard members Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, have been shot in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. Beckstrom died Thursday at a hospital. (United States Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Columbia; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures)

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) Director Joseph B. Edlow additionally introduced Thursday that, at Trump’s path, there could be a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of each inexperienced card issued to immigrants from “each nation of concern.”

The 19 international locations deemed “high-risk” by the USCIS embrace Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.