WASHINGTON
\nThe US Citizenship and Immigration Services said late on Wednesday it has stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, after two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded in Washington.
\nPresident Donald Trump said that the shooting near the White House was \u201can act of terror,\u201d saying the suspect came from Afghanistan in 2021. The move follows Trump\u2019s call for his government to re-examine Afghan immigrants who entered the United States when Joe Biden was President.
\n\u201cThe protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission,\u201d the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X. The National Guard soldiers were shot earlier on Wednesday in what officials described as a targeted ambush, and the suspect was in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the attack.
\nInvestigators identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington State, according to a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the official said.
\nTrump is at his resort in Palm Beach ahead of Thursday\u2019s Thanksgiving holiday, while US Vice President JD Vance is in Kentucky.In a social media post, Trump called the suspected shooter an \u201canimal\u201d who was also \u201cseverely wounded.\u201d
\nHe also ordered 500 more guard soldiers deployed to Washington, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told reporters, joining about 2,200 already in the city as part of the president\u2019s contentious immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
\nLakanwal came to the US in 2021 on a special visa programme for Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and were vulnerable to reprisals from the ruling Taliban after the US withdrawal, the official said. But he overstayed his visa and is in the country illegally, according to the official.
\nPresident Donald Trump was in Florida at the time of the attack, which prompted the White House to go into lockdown as law enforcement from multiple federal and city agencies swarmed the area.
\nThe two soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were part of a \u201chigh-visibility patrol\u201d around 2:15pm ET (1915 GMT) near the corner of 17th and I streets, a few blocks from the White House. The suspect came around a corner and \u201cambushed\u201d them, Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll said at a press briefing.
\nAfter an exchange of gunfire, other National Guard troops were able to subdue the shooter, he said. The two wounded soldiers were in critical condition at local hospitals, FBI Director Kash Patel said.The shooter appeared to have acted alone, officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said late on Wednesday it has stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, after two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded in Washington. President Donald Trump said that the shooting near the White House was \u201can act of terror,\u201d saying the suspect came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-517140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n