US reviewing ‘every’ Green Card of 19 countries after DC shooting

The US plans a sweeping review of Green Cards for nationals from 19 countries after this week's shooting in Washington DC. Photo / Getty Images

The Trump administration has said it was reviewing permanent residency status of immigrants from 19 countries, including Afghanistan, in its latest response to the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House.

The FBI meanwhile said it had launched an international terrorism investigation as new details emerged about the alleged gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national who had served with US troops in Afghanistan.

The shooting, which officials described as an “ambush-style” attack, cast a grim shadow over the Thanksgiving holiday and triggered a hardline, anti-immigrant response from President Donald Trump.

In a brief video statement in which he called the shooting an “act of evil”, Trump on Wednesday painted immigrants as an existential threat to national security, while his administration ordered an immediate halt to the processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.

“We must 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. If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” the President said.

Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said on Thursday that he had ordered a “full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”.

His agency later pointed to a list of 19 countries – including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar – facing US travel restrictions under a previous order from Trump in June.

The incident brings together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.

Gunned down in ‘brazen’ attack

Both soldiers remained in critical condition on Thursday, while the suspected shooter was in detention in hospital.

The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant – identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal – had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the nation’s capital.

In what she called a “brazen and targeted” attack, Pirro said the gunman opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol on Wednesday just a few blocks shy of the White House.

The suspect was charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill – charges that Pirro said would immediately be upgraded to first-degree murder if any of the guardsmen died.

Officials said they still had no clear understanding of the motive behind the shooting.

CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and had been brought to the United States as part of a programme to evacuate Afghans who had worked with the agency.

Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The move has prompted multiple lawsuits and allegations of authoritarian overreach by the White House.

After Wednesday’s shooting, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2500. This despite a federal judge last week ordering a temporary suspension of the deployment on the grounds that it was likely illegal.

Afghan legacy

The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies after the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Joe Biden.

But AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the United States after the military withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.

The group noted Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, and would be eligible to request permanent residency a year later.

“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDiver.

- Agence France-Presse