The capturing of 2 Nationwide Guard infantrymen in Washington, D.C., closing week has sparked a countrywide debate about U.S. immigration coverage and whether or not the government ignored any pink flags in regards to the alleged attacker, known by way of government as 29-year-old Afghan nationwide Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
The Trump management has cited the assault, which killed probably the most infantrymen, to additional extend its government-wide immigration crackdown. The management has halted all visa and immigration processing for Afghan nationals, ordered a overview of inexperienced card instances for immigrants from 19 nations and frozen all asylum case selections.
Lakanwal’s precise motives stay unclear. Over the weekend, Fatherland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem advised he may have “radicalized” after coming to the U.S. Emails received by way of CBS Information additionally point out that Lakanwal’s psychological well being deteriorated lately, and that he was remoted and indifferent from his circle of relatives.
Trump management officers have blamed the Biden management for permitting Lakanwal to go into the U.S. in 2021, whilst critics of President Trump have faulted his authorities for approving his asylum case previous this 12 months. However a overview of Lakanwal’s immigration case, in line with conversations with U.S. officers and different legit resources, displays there have been a number of alternatives for federal government, beneath each administrations, to vet Lakanwal and establish any probably relating to data.
That is what we all know in regards to the immigration procedure Lakanwal underwent to go into the U.S. and to take a look at to stay right here completely.
September 2021: Lakanwal arrives within the U.S.
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in September 2021 as a part of “Operation Allies Welcome,” the Biden management’s effort to resettle tens of hundreds of Afghan evacuees airlifted from Kabul following the chaotic American army withdrawal and Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
U.S. officers aware of his case informed CBS Information that Lakanwal used to be granted humanitarian parole. Govt statistics display parole used to be presented to greater than 77,000 evacuees so they may reside and paintings within the nation legally for two-year increments. Parole used to be designed to be a stopgap measure whilst the evacuees implemented for everlasting varieties of felony standing, corresponding to asylum or Particular Immigrant Visas for many who assisted the American struggle effort.
All Afghan evacuees have been intended to go through an preliminary spherical of vetting at army bases in Italy, Germany, Qatar, Spain and the United Arab Emirates sooner than being allowed to go into the U.S. Those that raised safety issues have been despatched to Kosovo. After arriving within the U.S., many evacuees have been housed in American army bases in different states sooner than settling in communities during the rustic.
On the time, Republican lawmakers in Congress raised issues in regards to the vetting procedure undertaken by way of the Biden management all the way through the Afghan resettlement effort. A 2022 record by way of the Division of Fatherland Safety Workplace of Inspector Normal mentioned the screening procedure encountered a number of hindrances and that some federal officers “didn’t all the time have essential information” to correctly vet the evacuees.
December 2024: Lakanwal requests asylum
Lakanwal implemented for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Products and services in December 2024, arguing he would face persecution if returned to Afghanistan, in step with U.S. officers who asked anonymity to talk about inside authorities data.
His utility would had been any other alternative for the U.S. authorities to vet his case. USCIS usually calls for asylum candidates to turn as much as in-person interviews at one in every of its places of work around the nation.
A DHS legit informed CBS Information the USCIS asylum vetting procedure usually comes to the selection of biometrics, a overview of social media job, FBI background tests and different screenings. The method additionally contains an inquiry into whether or not the applicant can turn out she or he would face persecution if deported on account of one in every of 5 components: their race, nationality, faith, political opinion or club in a “specific social crew.”
In recent times, USCIS has been prioritizing Afghan asylum claims, processing them sooner than the instances of different nationalities because of a Biden-era federal court docket agreement. The majority of Afghan asylum instances are licensed. Govt information displays 20,354 — 96% — of 21,201 Afghan asylum requests made up our minds by way of USCIS because the summer season of 2021 have been granted. Handiest 120 instances have been denied all the way through that point.
Two U.S. officers and an ex-Afghan army legit informed CBS Information that Lakanwal used to be a part of a “0 Unit,” one in every of a lot of CIA-backed forces within the former Afghan authorities’s army and intelligence equipment that received infamy for his or her secrecy and alleged brutality. That paintings may have made him a goal for reprisals by way of the Taliban.
April 2025: Lakanwal is granted asylum
USCIS licensed Lakanwal’s asylum utility in April 2025, granting him — and any spinoff rapid family members — asylee standing, U.S. officers informed CBS Information.
Whilst a grant of asylum is a choice that the applicant meets the felony definition of a refugee, it does now not in an instant bestow everlasting felony standing to the beneficiary. Asylees need to post any other utility to request a inexperienced card, or lawful everlasting resident standing, which they are able to obtain no quicker than 12 months after the grant of asylum. Two U.S. officers informed CBS Information that Lakanwal filed that utility, referred to as an adjustment of standing request, and that it used to be pending on the time of the assault.
U.S. legislation permits the federal government to terminate somebody’s asylum standing in positive cases, together with when asylees devote critical crimes or fraud. A DHS legit informed CBS Information that procedure calls for USCIS to inform the asylee of the intent to terminate the standing.
The ones whose asylum standing is revoked are positioned in deportation complaints sooner than federal immigration judges, who’re overseen by way of the Justice Division. In Lakanwal’s case, that procedure would most likely now not be finalized till after the adjudication of the legal fees he faces on account of closing week’s capturing.
