Homeland security secretary blames Biden for admitting Afghan suspected of shooting national guard troops
In a deeply partisan statement sent to reporters, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, confirmed the immigration history of Rahmanullah Lakamal, the suspect in the shooting of two national guard troops in Washington DC on Wednesday.
“The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is 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. I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants,” Noem said in the statement.
She went on to suggest that Democrats who have reminded active-duty troops that they can refuse illegal orders have somehow vilified those service members.
“Those politicians and media who continue to vilify our men and women in uniform need to take a long hard look in the mirror,” Noem said.
The department of homeland security confirmed the suspect’s name and said that he was admitted to the US by the Biden administration “as part of their Operation Allies Welcome program on September 8, 2021.”
Ignoring the vetting efforts that went in to those admissions, the department claimed that the program “let in thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals including terrorists into our country.”
Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
Two West Virginia national guard troops were shot outside a Washington DC metro stop close to the White House, in what officials described a “a targeted attack” and “an ambush”. The troops are in critical condition.
A review of video from the scene of the shooting of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday appears to show that it was the work of “a lone gunman” who “ambushed” the troops, Jeffery Carroll, assistant chief of Washington DC’s Metropolitan police department, told reporters at a news conference.
In a video address, Donald Trump claimed the attack on two national guard members in Washington DC by a suspect believed to be an Afghan national, justified his program of mass deportation and the reconsideration of all people granted asylum and refugee status during the Biden administration.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the suspect in the shooting attack on two uniformed national guard troops is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to support Afghans put at risk by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that year. Trump struck the peace deal with the Taliban in 2020 that required the US to withdraw from Afghanistan ion 2021.
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, told reporters in the Dominican Republic that he has ordered the deployment of an additional 500 national guard troops to patrol the streets of Washington DC, at Donald Trump’s request, following the shooting of two guard troops on Wednesday near the White House. A federal court judge ruled last week that all of the guard troops should be withdrawn from Washington DC, since the deployment is probably illegal.
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