Washington, Nov. 28 - The residency cards or “green cards” issued to individuals from 19 countries that, according to the U.S. government, are currently considered “concerning,” will be reexamined following the attack on two members of the National Guard.
“By mandate of @POTUS, I have ordered a thorough and rigorous reexamination of all permanent ‘green cards’ for all foreigners from all countries deemed ‘concerning,’” wrote Joe Edlow, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in a post yesterday on social media platform X.
The list includes, among others, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and Venezuela.
President Donald Trump, in a message to U.S. troops on Thanksgiving Day, announced the death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the two West Virginia National Guard soldiers shot near the White House.
Trump referred to the suspect, an Afghan citizen who had worked with the CIA in his home country, as a “wild monster.”
In his Thanksgiving message to U.S. troops, he said of Beckstrom, “she has just passed away.” “She is no longer with us,” he emphasized. Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, the other injured soldier during the attack, is still fighting for his life.
Trump reiterated that this is a “terrorist attack” and criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allowing the entry of Afghans like Rahmanullah Lakanwal, identified as the shooter, who worked with U.S. forces during the war in the Central Asian country.
The president ordered the deployment of an additional 500 National Guard soldiers to the capital, partly to assist in his administration's mass deportation efforts.
“This atrocity reminds us that our top priority in national security is to ensure total control over who enters and remains in our country,” declared Trump. “We mostly don’t want them.”
Immediately, the White House suspended all immigration applications from Afghan citizens. The communication from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) came shortly after Trump’s speech.
The Trump administration states that the suspect arrived under Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome” program, designed to support vulnerable Afghan refugees after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration applications related to Afghan citizens is halted indefinitely pending further review of security and investigation protocols,” USCIS stated on social media platform X.
