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The US government has officially suspended issuing VISA’s for Afghan passport holders and paused all asylum decisions nationwide.
Some shit you should know before you dig in: Earlier this week, two National Guard members were ambushed while patrolling near the White House in Washington, D.C., in what officials described as a targeted and unprovoked attack. The alleged assailant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, is accused of opening fire on Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom later died from her injuries, while Wolfe remains in critical condition. Lakanwal previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan as part of a covert paramilitary group known as the “Zero Units,” which conducted operations against the Taliban and other extremist organizations. He arrived in the United States in September 2021 under the Biden administration’s “Operation Allies Welcome” program, designed to resettle Afghans who had supported U.S. efforts during the war. His asylum application was granted earlier this year under the Trump administration following a vetting process by U.S. counterterrorism and immigration authorities.
What’s going on now: In a notable development, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US has“IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports,” citing urgent national security concerns in the wake of the D.C. attack. The State Department framed the decision as a necessary response to heightened risks posed by inadequately vetted individuals entering the country under humanitarian or special visa programs.
At the same time, President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping overhaul of the US immigration system, beginning with a complete halt to all asylum decisions and a re-examination of every green card issued to nationals from 19 designated “countries of concern,” including Afghanistan. Trump has instructed US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to conduct a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination” of those cases, directing officials to deny applications when documentation or identity verification cannot be confidently established.
This also comes as President Trump announced that he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.” “I will remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country,” Trump wrote, adding that he would “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization.”
