WASHINGTON DC – As Washingtonians were preparing to leave their offices early on Wednesday ahead of Thanksgiving, in the immediate vicinity of the White House shock, fear and pandemonium became the backdrop for America’s biggest holiday of the year.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan legal immigrant to the United States, now stands accused of opening fire on two members of the National Guard. Critically injured, they were gunned down on a street corner so close to the White House that Secret Service officers were among those who immediately responded at the scene.
On Thursday, the country learned that the alleged shooter had engaged in an apparently targeted attack, and that he had worked with CIA-backed military units in Afghanistan during America’s war there. He was given clearance to relocate to the United States in September 2021, following President Joe Biden’s botched military withdrawal that left so many Afghans – including those who had, at great risk to themselves and their families, provided assistance to the United States – scrambling to leave the country.
Much more is yet to be learned about the alleged gunman’s motives for his attack. But with the crackle of gunfire, he not only altered the lives of the two West Virginia guardsmen critically injured in the assault, but he also created the perfect political opening for President Donald Trump to double down on his anti-immigration crackdown.
At Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where he is spending the long holiday weekend, Trump immediately seized the moment. He called the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation”. Moments later, he made it clear that immigrants – Afghans and others – are about the pay the price for the attack that took place less than a quarter of a mile from the White House.
The scene where two National Guard members were shot yesterday in Washington DC on Wednesday (Photo: Nathan Howard/ Reuters)The shooting, Trump claimed, “underscores the greatest single national security threat facing our nation”. He argued that Wednesday’s events warrant the authorities investigating “every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country under Biden”, and he pledged to take “all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country”.
Of Washington’s debt to the thousands of Afghans who assisted US forces during America’s longest war, the President made no mention. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security will now – in Trump’s words – “re-examine” around 77,000 Afghans who resettled in the United States under “Operation Allies Welcome”.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who is the suspect in the shooting, displayed at a press conference today (Photo: Nathan Howard/ Reuters)The programme, implemented by the Biden administration, sought to provide emergency assistance to those Afghans considered at risk of Taliban reprisals for their service to the United States. Created in such haste, it provided them entry to the country only under parole documents valid for two years, and conferred no long-term rights to remain in the USA, leaving them instead to seek asylum or refugee status. Many of them will now fear that Trump will order his border agents to round them up and boot them out, flying them back to a dangerous future in their homeland.
Around 200,000 Afghans availed themselves of other opportunities to enter the United States after the Taliban returned to power. But since his return to the White House in January, Trump has systematically brought those processes to a standstill. He suspended the US Refugee Admissions Programme, terminated the rights of Afghans to the “Temporary Protected Status” granted in 2022, and eliminated “Operation Enduring Welcome” and the office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, two programmes specifically designed to manage the post-war resettlement process.
US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro next to with FBI Director Kash Patel during a press conference today (Photo: Nathan Howard/ Reuters)As recently as August, the International Refugee Assistance Project warned that Trump’s government had “turned its back on Afghan allies” and “abandoned promises to protect those who risked their lives for the United States”. In light of Wednesday’s attack in Washington, the government is likely only to intensify its effort to keep more Afghans out of the country at a time when thousands are still waiting for their applications to be processed.
On Wednesday night, the President also announced that he was deploying an additional 500 National Guard troops to the US capital, despite the fact that a judge has already ruled that the existing deployment, dating back to August, is illegal. The President has warned that, if necessary, he will invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active-duty troops on the streets of American cities where he deems a “security emergency” warrants action.
But in Washington DC, where Trump has falsely claimed repeatedly that the National Guard are required to deal with a violent crime wave, the troops have spent most of their time cleaning up rubbish, manicuring parks, riding the city’s underground and patronising coffee shops. The arrival of 500 more troops will infuriate local residents who already oppose the existing show of force, and may leave even more National Guard members at risk of being violently targeted.
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