Washington, November 27, 2025: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has suspended all immigration requests related to Afghan nationals indefinitely, following a shooting near the White House that left two National Guard soldiers critically injured.
The move came hours after President Donald Trump declared the attack “an act of terror,” saying the suspected shooter had arrived in the US from Afghanistan in 2021. Trump has ordered a review of Afghan immigrants who entered the country during former president Joe Biden’s administration.
“The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission,” USCIS said in a statement posted on X late Wednesday.
Officials identified the suspected attacker as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national residing in Washington State. According to a Justice Department official, Lakanwal arrived in the US in 2021 under a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme for Afghans who assisted American forces during the Afghanistan war. He later overstayed his visa and was living in the country illegally.
The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the official said.
Lakanwal was taken into custody after being wounded during an exchange of gunfire with National Guard troops.
The shooting occurred around 2:15pm ET near the corner of 17th and I streets, just blocks from the White House and close to Washington’s busy Farragut Square.
According to Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll, the Afghan suspect “ambushed” two members of the West Virginia National Guard who were on a “high-visibility patrol.” After gunfire was exchanged, other National Guard personnel subdued the shooter.
The two injured soldiers were transported to local hospitals and remained in critical condition, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Officials said the suspect appeared to have acted alone.
President Trump was at his Palm Beach, Florida resort at the time. The White House briefly went into lockdown as multiple federal and local agencies responded.
The attack sparked chaos in one of downtown Washington’s busiest lunch-hour areas.
Mike Ryan, 55, said he heard what sounded like gunfire while walking to buy lunch. “When I came back, I saw two National Guard soldiers on the ground … people were trying to resuscitate one of them,” he said.
Another witness, Emma McDonald, described seeing one of the soldiers carried away on a stretcher with “his head covered in blood” and a chest compression device attached.
Farragut Square, decorated for the holiday season, was quickly cordoned off as heavily armed troops and police swept the area.
Following the attack, President Trump ordered an additional 500 National Guard soldiers to Washington, bringing the total to about 2,700 deployed in the capital as part of his administration’s controversial crackdown on crime and immigration in Democratic-led cities.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the new deployment and said troops in the capital currently include units from the District of Columbia as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
On social media, Trump referred to the suspect as an “animal” and “severely wounded.”
The president has repeatedly claimed crime has plummeted in Washington due to the troop presence — a claim inconsistent with official police data.
