US suspends Afghans' immigration requests after DC shooting incident

Olympia [Washington], November 28: The Trump administration said that the processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals would be suspended "effective immediately," hours after two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington.
"Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols," the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X.
The two members of the National Guard who were critically injured are a 20-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, the public prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
Both remain in critical condition, said Jeanine Pirro, the acting prosecutor for Washington, one day after the incident.
The two victims serve in the West Virginia National Guard, she added. Pirro said the suspected gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national, lived in Bellingham in the north-western state of Washington, with his wife and five children. He reportedly drove across the country to the capital before the attack.
He used a revolver in the attack and faces 15 years for assault with the intent to kill, Pirro said. She made it clear that this was a preliminary assessment.
"We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree," Pirro added. "But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge: murder in the first degree." The motive for the crime remains unclear.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that the shooting of two members of the National Guard near the Farragut West Metro station, not far from the White House, on Wednesday afternoon was an "act of terror," and that the suspected shooter had come from Afghanistan in 2021.
"Based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan - a hell hole on Earth," Trump said in a video address from Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump went on to blame his predecessor, Joe Biden, saying the suspect "was flown in by the Biden administration in 2021... his status was extended under legislation signed by president Biden."
According to US broadcaster CNN, the suspect applied for asylum in 2024, when Biden was still president, but the request was granted by the Trump administration in April 2025. Trump took office in January 2025.
Source: Qatar Tribune