Washington Shooter Identified As Afghan Immigrant, Trump Blames Biden

Following an ambush attack in Washington DC, where two National Guard soldiers were critically injured after being gunned by an Afghan national, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have indefinitely stopped processing all immigration requests related to Afghan nationals.

The statement posted on X, further read, “The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission.”

The Department of Homeland Security have confirmed that the gunman named Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who had immigrated to the US during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

As reported by the BBC, a statement from Joint Task Force DC, which is co-ordinating the National Guard deployments to the nation's capital, confirmed that the suspected terror attack took place at around 17:15 GMT on Wednesday near the Farragut Square Metro Station, less than two blocks away from The White House.

Who is Rahmanulla Lakanwal?

According to The New York Post, Lakanwal, an Afghan national, had served in the allied Afghan forces alongside US troops in Kandahar. He had entered the country under Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 and resettled in Bellingham, Washington.

The press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security states his immigration status to be unclear.

However, according to three law enforcement sources cited by ABC News, Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted the same in April 2025, under the Trump administration.

Trump Reacts To The Incident

Following the incident, President Donald Trump, who was in Florida, delivered an address and called the shooting "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror and that it “was a crime against our entire nation."

Trump added that following the shooting, the US "must now reexamine every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country 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.”

The National Guard was deployed in Washington DC owing to President Trump's federal takeover of the capital and crime crackdown in August. An update cited by ABC news says that there are currently 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.

Trump, pushing his anti-immigration rhetoric has pinned the blame on former president Joe Biden as the suspect was an Afghan foreigner brought into the country under Operation Allies Welcome and the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which took place under the Biden administration in September 2021.

While FBI Director Kash Patel told at a news conference the soldiers "were "brazenly attacked in a "horrendous act of violence", no motive has been officially confirmed yet. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has further stated the president had asked him to send 500 more National Guard members to Washington DC following the attack.