Trump Orders Sweeping Green Card Crackdown After DC Shooting

 

The Trump administration has launched an aggressive review of green cards held by immigrants from 19 “countries of concern”, framing the move as a national-security response to the shooting of two National Guard members just blocks from the White House.

 

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced the directive on X, saying he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of every green card connected to those nations. Edlow said the American people “will not bear the cost” of what the administration calls the previous government’s “reckless resettlement policies.”

 

The expansion of scrutiny follows the identification of the alleged shooter: Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era program for evacuating Afghan partners after the fall of Kabul. The revelation triggered a political firestorm, with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance declaring the case proof that the United States had admitted “unvetted” refugees.

 

Vance said he had been called a “racist” in 2021 for warning about the program, adding, “They shouldn’t have been in our country.”

The administration has already suspended all immigration applications from Afghan nationals, while Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government will pursue the death penalty against Lakanwal. According to the nonprofit #AfghanEvac, the suspect previously served in an elite Afghan counterterrorism unit — a detail that FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed is under active investigation, including any ties to U.S. partner forces.

 

The crackdown extends beyond Afghanistan. A Trump-era memo lists the 19 countries subject to heightened review, including Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Haiti, Cuba, Laos, Venezuela, and others.

The White House had already ordered USCIS to re-interview 200,000 refugees, raising the possibility that immigration protections could be revoked.

 

The administration insists the measures are necessary to restore national security. Critics warn they amount to a sweeping rollback of post-war refugee commitments.

 

Key Takeaways

• Trump orders a full green-card review for immigrants from 19 nations after the DC shooting.

• Afghan suspect’s 2021 entry reignites a political fight over Operation Allies Welcome.

• Refugees nationwide now face re-interviews, and Afghan cases are frozen entirely.

 

SOURCE: THE HILL

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

The administration insists the measures are necessary to restore national security.

Nonsense, it's blaming immigrants for the US problems.