The US has stopped processing immigration requests from “third world nations”, particularly in South Asia, after a shooting incident in Washington DC in which one National Guard trooper died, while another battles for life in hospital.
The decision is the latest shift in the US immigration policy since the Friday incident for which an Afghan national has been apprehended.
On Friday, the United States administration said it would temporarily halt all asylum requests following the shooting that killed an elite National Guard member, Sarah Beckstrom, just a few streets away from the White House.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director, Joseph Edlow, said all asylum decisions would be paused “until we can ensure that every applicant is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.
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“The safety of the American people always comes first,” Edlow posted on X.
The shooting had followed an announcement by US President Donald Trump, who blamed former President Joe Biden for allowing mass migration from Afghanistan, and said he would stop all foreign nationals’ entries from “third world countries”.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, aged 29, has been apprehended for the shooting incident, with sources saying he served alongside US forces in Afghanistan before arriving in the US after Kabul’s fall in 2021.
Meanwhile, acting on Trump’s decision, The US State Department has also paused granting travel visas to Afghan nationals, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Friday.
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