WASHINGTON—In the wake of a shocking shooting that left two National Guard members fighting for their lives near the White House, the Trump administration is ramping up its immigration crackdown in a big way.

Senior officials say they’re not stopping at the Afghan national accused in the attack—they’re gearing up to scrutinize the legal status of up to 20 million migrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden era.

It’s a move that’s already sparking fierce debate, with critics warning it could upend lives built over years of waiting and uncertainty.

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The announcement came amid the chaos of an ongoing investigation into Wednesday’s violence in the nation’s capital.

Details of the Shooting Leading to the Crackdown

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old suspect, allegedly opened fire on two West Virginia National Guard troops stationed in D.C. for security duties.

Both victims remained in critical condition late Wednesday, while Lakanwal was shot and wounded by responding officers before his arrest.

Authorities haven’t pinned down a motive yet, but the incident has lit a fuse under the administration’s long-promised immigration reforms.

Lakanwal, who served alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan for a decade as an interpreter and support staffer, arrived stateside in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome.

That program, launched after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Kabul, brought in about 76,000 Afghans fleeing Taliban rule.

He was granted asylum earlier this year—under the current Trump administration, according to multiple reports—and had been living quietly until the alleged attack.

But for White House hardliners, that’s beside the point. Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy and a key architect of past immigration restrictions, laid out the broader plan in a fiery Fox News interview Wednesday night.

“What you heard from President Trump, the breaking news here tonight, is that his government is going to accelerate efforts to review every single person added to this country over the last four years,” Miller said.

He pegged the number at around 20 million, a figure that dwarfs the Pew Research Center’s 2023 estimate of 14 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

President Donald Trump Weighs In

President Trump himself kicked things off earlier in the day with a stark video address from the White House.

“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from the country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country,” he declared.

“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”

The rhetoric didn’t stop there. Miller doubled down, framing the Biden years as a national security catastrophe.

“Immigration during the Biden years had caused the ‘worst national security threat in our history,'” he told Fox, rattling off countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Iraq.

“Now if you’re an illegal you’re out automatically, but everybody else who was brought here refugee-, asylum- status whatever status, as he said, if you’re not someone who loves this country if you’re not any benefit to this country we’re going to send you out of this country.”

Afghan Nationals Get Shunned by U.S. Officials

The immediate fallout was swift. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted all processing of immigration requests from Afghan nationals indefinitely, just hours after the shooting.

It’s a freeze that echoes the administration’s early moves, like the travel bans targeting Muslim-majority nations, but this one feels personal—tied directly to a suspect who slipped through the system.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wasted no time laying blame.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, she called Lakanwal “an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.”

She refused to name him outright: “I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants.”

On the other side of the aisle, reactions were more measured but no less pointed. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, posted on X: “My heart breaks for the victims of this horrific shooting in Washington DC near the White House.”

Vice President JD Vance, reflecting on the 2021 Afghan evacuations, added his own retrospective jab:

“I remember back in 2021 criticizing the Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees. Friends sent me messages calling me a racist. It was a clarifying moment. They shouldn’t have been in our country.”

Advocates for Afghan evacuees pushed back hard against broad-brush punishments.

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Afghan Nationals Speak on Incident

Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac—a coalition aiding Afghan resettlement—issued a statement emphasizing justice over panic.

The shooter, he said, “should face full accountability and prosecution under the law.”

But he warned: “This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community.”

VanDiver highlighted the rigorous vetting Afghans endure: “Afghans undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the U.S.”

Even intelligence officials waded in. CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital that the Biden team had justified Lakanwal’s entry based on his prior collaboration with U.S. agencies, including the CIA.

It’s a detail that complicates the narrative of unchecked inflows, reminding everyone that many of these migrants risked their lives for American interests abroad.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. National Guard troops—about 2,375 strong—have been patrolling D.C. streets since August, when Trump invoked a “crime emergency” to bolster law enforcement.

He ordered 500 more activated in response to the shooting. But legal hurdles loom: A federal judge recently deemed the deployment likely unconstitutional and set a halt for next month.

The administration’s appealing, of course, keeping the troops in place for now.

Zoom out, and the stakes feel enormous.

What Happens Now?

The 20 million figure Miller tossed out covers refugees, asylees, parolees—folks from all corners who navigated a labyrinth of applications just to stay.

For families who’ve put down roots, started businesses, or sent kids to school here, a mass review could mean dread-filled mornings and endless paperwork.

It’s the kind of policy shift that doesn’t just affect borders; it ripples into communities, workplaces, and courtrooms for years.

As the D.C. investigation grinds on—motive unclear, evidence mounting—the White House is betting this moment galvanizes support for its toughest line yet on immigration.

Whether it sticks, or fractures under its own weight, remains to be seen.

One thing’s certain: In a holiday week already shadowed by winter storms and travel woes, this story’s cutting deeper than most.

Also Read: A DOJ Whistleblower Now Makes Revelation That Undermines the Judicial System’s Integrity

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