The shooting of two National Guard members in Washington D.C., resulting in one fatality, has led to policy changes by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the suspect as an Afghan national who entered the United States via an Afghan resettlement scheme initiated under the Biden administration. This incident has prompted claims from Republican officials regarding the vetting process of Afghan evacuees. The DHS has since suspended the processing of all immigration requests for Afghan nationals to review security and vetting protocols.
Claims Regarding Afghan Vetting Under Biden Administration
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, reportedly entered the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) on September 8, 2021, following the fall of Kabul. OAW was established in August 2021 by the Biden administration to resettle Afghans deemed vulnerable after the Taliban takeover.
Statements from officials have raised questions about the vetting process. Former President Trump asserted that evacuees "came in, they were unvetted, they were unchecked." During an FBI news conference, Kash Patel claimed the previous administration "made the decision to allow thousands of people into this country without doing a single piece of background checking or vetting." A DHS press release dated the day of the attack identified the suspect as "one of thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals let into the country under the Biden administration's Operation Allies Welcome program." Vice President JD Vance reiterated comments from 2021 criticizing the "Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees" and cited an earlier case of an Afghan national charged with terrorism-related offenses after evacuation.
Suspect's Arrival and Resettlement Programs
Lakanwal arrived shortly after Kabul's fall, a period when many Afghans who had collaborated with Western governments faced persecution risks. Over 190,000 Afghans have been resettled through OAW and another program, Enduring Welcome, according to a 2024 U.S. State Department report.
Most Afghan nationals arriving under OAW received two-year "parole" status, which included reporting requirements such as medical screenings and vaccinations. Failure to meet these requirements could result in loss of residency rights. Afghans who significantly supported U.S. troops were eligible for lawful permanent residency after completing the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process. AfghanEvac, a charity, stated that Lakanwal had an active SIV application but was granted asylum in 2024 under the current administration.
Vetting Procedures for Afghan Evacuees
The White House (Trump administration) did not provide details on Lakanwal's specific vetting but issued a statement blaming "Joe Biden's dangerous policies" for allowing "unvetted criminals" into the country and affirmed the administration's commitment to addressing the situation. The DHS and CIA did not respond to inquiries regarding vetting details.
An archived government website for the OAW scheme, last updated in early 2024, described a "rigorous" and "multi-layered" vetting process. This involved collecting biometric information, including fingerprints and photos, from Afghans prior to their entry into the U.S. Multiple government agencies, such as the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center, were cited as involved in the vetting. Alejandro Mayorkas, then Secretary of Homeland Security, stated in 2021 that a "robust screening and vetting architecture" had been established.
Reports on the effectiveness of the OAW vetting process have varied:
- A 2022 audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), a U.S. government oversight body, identified issues where "some information used to vet evacuees through US Government databases (such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data) was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing." The OIG attributed this partly to the DHS lacking a list of evacuees "who lacked sufficient identification documents." The audit also reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States."
- A subsequent OIG audit in 2024 noted weaknesses in the government's ability to identify potentially negative information, such as national security concerns, about some Afghan parolees.
- However, earlier in 2024, the OIG commended the FBI for its role in screening Afghans under the scheme, stating that "Overall we found that each of the responsible elements of the FBI effectively communicated and addressed any potential national security risks identified."
Experts have also provided perspectives on the vetting process. Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration analyst at the Cato Institute, described the OAW program's vetting as "more inconsistent than usual by OIG accounts and compared to the more intensive refugee review process." He noted that "Because of the chaotic nature of the evacuation, information was lost and some checks weren't run until the migrants were already out of Afghanistan."
Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group, recounted witnessing the initial processing of evacuees at U.S. military bases. She stated, "Evacuees were processed on military bases and held for several weeks, and even months, until they were ready for entrance into the United States. This is when the security vetting and medical screening was processed, extensively." Murray also commented, "Even the best vetting can't predict the future. He [Lakanwal] could have had a clean record, been an appropriate candidate for humanitarian protection, and then something changed." She highlighted that the Lakanwal incident is the first major event of its kind in the four years since the evacuation, stating, "The fact that one person committed a horrific act doesn't mean other Afghans now pose a threat."