The Trump administration’s approval of an Afghan suspect’s asylum request has ignited a security controversy at the White House. The individual in question is linked to a shooting incident involving two National Guardsmen.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal is accused of opening fire on two National Guard soldiers from West Virginia, within 800 yards of the White House. Authorities traced his fingerprints, identifying him as a refugee who arrived in the U.S. after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Lakanwal, 29, submitted his asylum application in 2024, which received approval from the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s presidency this past April, as reported by CNN.
Initially, the Biden administration granted Lakanwal entry into the U.S. in September 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, a program for Afghan refugees.
An official from the White House informed the Daily Mail that due to his parole status, Lakanwal could not have been deported.
“This Afghan national was paroled into the U.S. by the Biden Administration,” the official stated. “Subsequently, Biden enacted a law related to that parole program and agreed to the 2023 Ahmed Court Settlement, which mandated expedited processing of his asylum claim by USCIS. Regardless of his asylum approval, his parole status, authorized by Biden, would have prevented his removal from the country.”
The Trump administration regularly defy court orders and prior Congressional statutes.
The suspect drove across the country from his home in Bellingham, Washington state, where he lived with his wife and five children near the Canadian border.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, remain in critical condition after undergoing surgery. The soldiers were shot by a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver.
Donald Trump last night in an address to the nation blamed Joe Biden and called for a review of ‘every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country’.
CIA director John Ratcliffe revealed that Lakanwal had direct links to the intelligence agency from his work alongside US Special Forces in Afghanistan, where he served as an elite commander.
The Trump administration approved the asylum in April 2025 for the suspected National Guard shooter
Two National Guard soldiers remain in critical condition after Lakanwal allegedly shot them down the street from the White House on Wednesday
Trump shifted the blamed to former President Joe Biden for allowing the suspected Afghan shooter into the country in September 2021
Lakanwal’s ID card identifies him as a commander in Unit 01, an elite force within the former Afghan government’s National Directorate of Security, according to The Telegraph.
The Daily Mail has reached out to DHS for comment.
The Homeland Security office responsible for reviewing asylum applications is the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Hours after the shooting, the USCIS announced it was indefinitely suspending immigration requests relating to all Afghan nationals ‘pending further review of security and vetting protocols.’
Days before the shooting a bombshell memo, signed by the director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the Trump administration plans to initiate a comprehensive review and re-interview of all refugees admitted under Biden.
‘He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,’ Trump said during his nationwide address.
Intelligence officials have said Lakanwal worked with various entities in the US government, including the CIA, due to his prior experience as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.
‘Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it. His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden, a disastrous President, the worst in the history of our country,’ Trump said.
‘If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them. America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror. And at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission the service members were so nobly fulfilling.’
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem oversees the department that approved the asylum for the suspected National Guard shooter
The suspected shooter lived in Bellingham, Washington with his wife and five children near the US-Canada border
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who oversaw the office responsible for granting Lakanwal asylum into the country earlier this year, joined Trump in blaming Biden.
‘The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States…under the Biden Administration,’ Noem wrote on X.
A motive for the shooting has not been released by law enforcement, but the FBI led by Kash Patel is investigating whether the attack could have links to international terror.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s notes during a Thursday briefing mentioned the suspected shooter yelled ‘allahu akbar’ before the attack.
