The man accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House Wednesday night entered the country through Operation Allies Welcome, a resettlement program to assist Afghan nationals.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the suspect – an Afghan man identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal – arrived in the U.S. in 2021. He later applied for asylum in 2024, which was approved this year under the Trump administration.
The U.S. has now suspended all Afghan immigration requests in response to the shooting outside a metro station in downtown Washington D.C., which officials described as a targeted ambush. The two guard members are still in critical condition.
In a televised address from Mar-a-Lago, Trump condemned the attack – the day before Thanksgiving celebrations get underway – as a “crime against humanity”.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called the shooter an “animal”, warning that he would pay the “steepest possible price.”
On Wednesday, Trump lashed out at former president Joe Biden’s administration for letting in “20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners” to the US through the Operation Allies Welcome program. However, this figure appears to be an enormous exaggeration.
What was Operation Allies Welcome?
The scheme was launched in August 2021 during Biden’s presidency, following the chaos of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power.
The program’s goal was to provide protection and relocation for vulnerable Afghans, including a significant proportion eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) because they took major risks to help US operations in Afghanistan, or were related to someone who did.
At the time, the Biden administration said the U.S. government “is working around the clock to conduct the security screening and vetting of vulnerable Afghans before they are permitted entry into the United States consistent with the dual goals of protecting national security and providing protection for our Afghan allies”.
“As with any population entering the United States, DHS, in coordination with interagency vetting partners, takes multiple steps to ensure that those seeking entry do not pose a national security or public safety risk.”
A year later the program was renamed Operation Enduring Welcome, as the scheme shifted to a more long term approach and focused increasingly on assisting Afghans with SIVs, or helping others utilise other refugee and immigration programs.
Since August 2021, over 190,000 Afghans have settled in the United States through Enduring Welcome and Operation Allies Welcome, according to the State Department.
A further 260,000 have applied through the programs and are still waiting, according to estimates by AfghanEvac, an organization which relocates and resettles Afghan people.
Enduring Welcome is due to be shut down by the end of 2025, however processing has slowed down, leaving many Afghans with active applications for relocation stuck in Afghanistan where they may face reprisals, or in third countries such as Pakistan where their security is not guaranteed.
How was the suspect involved in the scheme?
Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. on September 8, 2021 through the Operation Allies Welcome scheme.
The majority of those who arrived in the U.S. via Operation Allies Welcome were given permission to enter and then remain in the country for two years, but were given no permanent immigration status.
Lakanwal then applied for asylum in 2024, which was approved the following year under the Trump administration.
Following the D.C. shooting, Trump has called for a total re-examination of every Afghan immigrant who has entered the U.S. through the programs.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said immigration requests have been stopped “indefinitely” with the decision made pending a review of "security and vetting protocols".
"The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission," the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X.
One of the two troops shot has been named as Andrew Wolfe of West Virginia, who is reportedly undergoing surgery and remains in a critical condition.
Ahead of Thanksgiving the Trump administration has ordered 500 more National Guardsmen to Washington D.C.
