US Freeze on Asylum Decisions will Last ‘a Long Time’
IN AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration plans to pause asylum decisions “for an extended period of time” after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members near the White House, killing one of them.
When asked to specify how long it would take, Trump said he had “no time limit” in mind for the measure, which the Department of Homeland Security said is currently linked to a list of 19 countries where the United States faces travel restrictions.
“We don’t want these people,” Trump continued. “Do you know why we don’t want them? Because most of them are of no use and they shouldn’t be in our country.”
The Trump administration took a break after the shooting attack in Washington on November 26, which killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and seriously injured another guard.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the incident.
Lakanwal was part of a CIA-backed “joint force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Lakanwal was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025, but officials blamed what the government called a lax vetting process for Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden’s admission to US territory during the Afghan airlift.
Trump wrote in the wake of the attack that he planned to “permanently pause immigration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”
Asked which nationalities would be affected, the Department of Homeland Security showed AFP a list of 19 countries that have faced travel restrictions to the US since June, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar.
