By Obinna Uballa
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to suspend migration from what he described as “Third World countries,” a day after an Afghan national allegedly carried out an ambush attack that left a National Guard soldier dead in Washington, D.C.
The announcement, delivered in a charged social-media post, marks one of Trump’s most sweeping anti-immigration declarations since beginning his second term, intensifying a policy direction already defined by mass deportations and aggressive border restrictions.
The president confirmed that 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, a West Virginia National Guard member deployed to Washington as part of his nationwide law-and-order initiative, died from injuries sustained in the attack. A second soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remained in critical condition on Thursday.
The FBI has launched an international terrorism investigation into the shooting, allegedly carried out by 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal. Officials said Lakanwal had previously served alongside US forces in Afghanistan.
The attack, described by prosecutors as a “brazen and targeted” ambush near the White House, has inflamed debate around immigration, domestic military deployment and the long-shadowed legacy of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In his post, Trump vowed: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”
He also threatened to reverse “millions” of immigration admissions under former President Joe Biden and to eject “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.”
During a Thanksgiving video call with US troops, Trump described the shooting as a “terrorist attack” and implied that the suspect may have acted out of frustration with the administration’s anti-crime operations in the capital.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”
His agency later referenced a list of 19 nations – including Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Cuba and Myanmar – already under US travel restrictions.
The administration had earlier halted all processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.
According to prosecutors, Lakanwal drove from Washington State to D.C. before allegedly opening fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver on a group of patrolling soldiers.
He faces three counts of assault with intent to kill, which prosecutors say will be upgraded to first-degree murder following Beckstrom’s death.
Officials said the motive remains unclear.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-supported Afghan “partner force” before being relocated to the US after the fall of Kabul.
However, AfghanEvac -an organisation assisting Afghan resettlement – argued the suspect’s case had undergone “extensive security vetting” and noted he was granted asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration.
“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used to define an entire community,” said AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver.
In response to the attack, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington, raising the total to 2,500. Trump has deployed troops to multiple Democrat-run cities, including Los Angeles and Memphis, drawing legal challenges and accusations of executive overreach.
