State Department 'immediately' halts all Afghan passport visas following deadly National Guard attack
The Department of State has paused all visas for individuals traveling on Afghan passports after an attack in Washington D C Wednesday targeting National Guard members Rahmanullah Lakanwal an Afghan national was charged with first-degree murder among other counts related to the ambush which has since claimed the life of West Virginia National Guard Army Spc Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded U S Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe Lakanwal was vetted by the CIA in Afghanistan and granted final asylum approval under President Donald Trump's administration earlier this year multiple sources communicated Fox News Digital The Department of State has RIGHT AWAY paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports the agency wrote in an announcement on social media The Department is taking all necessary policies to protect U S national assurance and general safety LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONDING AFTER NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS SHOT NEAR WHITE HOUSESecretary of State Marco Rubio also took to X to share the news President Trump s State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports Rubio wrote in a post The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people U S -based Afghanistan allies relocation and resettlement nonprofit AfghanEvac denounced Friday's decision calling the administration's move a violation of federal law It appears Secretary Rubio is attempting to shut down the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa campaign in direct violation of federal law and standing court orders He is seemingly acting at the direction of President Trump and Stephen Miller and there is no doubt this is the outcome they have been driving toward for months AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver declared in a comment They are using a single violent individual as cover for a framework they have long planned turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire area and the veterans who served alongside them VANCE S PAST WARNINGS REIGNITE AFTER AFGHAN NATIONAL NAMED AS SUSPECT IN DC GUARD SHOOTINGThe new framework comes less than a day after the media questioned Trump about how the attack could have taken place after thriving vetting I mean he went nuts and that happens It happens too often with these people Trump recounted reporters from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida There was no vetting or anything We have a lot of others in this country and we're going to get them out but they go cuckoo Something happens to them Trump noted when it comes to asylum when they're flown in it's very hard to get them out No matter how you want to do it it's very hard to get them out But we're going to be getting them all out now U S Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS Director Joseph B Edlow also reported Thursday that at Trump's direction there would be a full-scale rigorous reexamination of every green card issued to immigrants from every country of concern The countries deemed high-risk by the USCIS include Afghanistan Burma Chad the Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Haiti Iran Libya Somalia Sudan Yemen Burundi Cuba Laos Sierra Leone Togo Turkmenistan and Venezuela
