Trump collectively punishes Afghan community after Wednesday shooting
The administration quickly politicized and sought to weaponize the tragic shooting.
The Trump administration is inciting hate against millions of immigrants after the actions of one Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard troops in Washington.
The MAGA administration jumped to exploit Wednesday’s tragic attack, which critically injured 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, two troops from West Virginia. They are among more than 2,000 National Guard troops that US President Donald Trump ordered to DC in his militarization effort, and he ordered another 500 to be deployed after the shooting.
AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that helps resettled Afghan people after the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, urged politicians and journalists to avoid painting the entire community with a broad brush because of one person’s actions.
“Every time we have a school shooting, you don’t see them shutting down all white kids from Appalachia. You don’t see a moratorium on teenage boys,” AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver told Zeteo. He said he’s worried that the shooting will be used as an excuse to target Afghan allies, other immigrant populations, the Muslim community and other groups.
The backlash has already started. Within hours of the shooting Wednesday, Trump rushed to blame Joe Biden and call for collective punishment, spreading dehumanizing narratives that could have lethal consequences.
In a five-minute video statement posted Wednesday night, Trump called Afghanistan “a hellhole on Earth.”
“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan, under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country, who does not belong here or add benefit to our country,” he said.
On Wednesday evening, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced an indefinite stop on processing immigration requests from Afghan applicants.
The suspect, identified by federal authorities as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the US from Afghanistan on Sept. 8, 2021, through Operation Allies Welcome, a 2021 evacuation effort, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Per Reuters and CNN, Lakanwal then applied for asylum in 2024, and was approved in April (under Trump).
In June, under Trump, the Justice Department watchdog released a report after auditing the FBI’s role in the vetting process related to people who came in the Afghanistan withdrawal. They concluded it worked as it was supposed to.
Trump was not alone in inciting hate.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (Republican, Alabama) on X called for an immediate ban on “all ISLAM immigrants.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said “this individual – and so many others – should have never been allowed to come here.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the suspect was among the “many unvetted, mass paroled” into the US under Biden. And Vice President JD Vance said Afghans who immigrated in 2021 – including those who fled their home country after facing danger for supporting US missions – “shouldn’t have been in our country.”
“I remember back in 2021 criticizing the Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees. Friends sent me messages calling me a racist,” Vance said. “It was a clarifying moment.”
Some would say that he’s since proven his friends right.
Ratcliffe confirmed Lakanwal helped the US as part of a CIA-backed force in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold. Lakanwal was shot by a service member during his attack Wednesday and taken into custody.
The New York Times reported a childhood friend of Lakanwal saying he suffered from mental health issues and was disturbed by the casualties his unit caused.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed the suspect’s identity to Zeteo but referred questions about his immigration process to DHS.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed in a written statement to Zeteo that Lakanwal was a part of the 2023 Ahmed court settlement, a case that pushed for the government to reviewed backlogged applications of Afghan people. Before the settlement, McLaughlin claimed Lakanwal was “paroled in” by the Biden administration.
“Regardless if his asylum was granted or not, this monster would not have been removed because of his parole,” she continued.
McLaughlin said Afghan immigration requests will be on hold until review of “security and vetting protocols,” and DHS is reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration, which she claimed had “failed to vet these applicants on a massive scale.”
Trump’s spate of anti-immigrant orders have already impeded immigration pathways for many Afghans, including Operation Enduring Welcome. The administration has also terminated temporary protected status for Afghanistan, a designation that allows people to stay and work in the US if it’s unsafe for them to return to their home country.
Given the circumstances of the shooting – two National Guard troops shot blocks away from the White House – VanDiver said it’s fair to suspect this as an act of terror. But he suspects the shooting was not a result of a vetting issue, but the case of one outlier who went off the rails. VanDiver said Lakanwal would have to have been vetted thoroughly several times in order to be allowed entry and then asylum status.
“There’s one crazy person who did crazy-people-things, and now the entire Afghan community is likely to suffer,” VanDiver said.
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2 people get shot, and the gov't deploys hundreds of troops and starts a hate campaign against Afghans. So many kids die every year as a result of school shootings, and nothing happens. Tells you what their priorities are
Stop the unfounded name blame. We were part of a sizeable group that sponsored a large family of Afghanis who were forced to flee Afghanistan or be massacred by the Taliban. They are well on there way to integrating into Canadian society & will bring a richness to it! The vast majority of such refugees enhance Canada & their children will be the country’s future! As for racist MAGA types & Delusional Donnie - grifter par excellence- you will be the ultimate losers