White House blames Biden-era vetting for D.C. shooting suspect’s entry

Shafaq News – Washington

The White House on Monday revealed that the suspect in last week’s deadly shooting of National Guard personnel in Washington, D.C., entered the United States through an Afghan resettlement initiative approved during the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the attack, which killed 20-year-old Army specialist Sarah Vekstra and critically injured Air Force Sergeant Andrew Wolf, exposed major flaws in the vetting procedures used at the time. She told reporters the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Leavitt described the shooting as a “horrific ambush” and said that Lakanwal entered the country under a resettlement process she called “one of the most embarrassing chapters in modern US history.”

She reiterated that President Donald Trump’s immigration directives remain central to the administration’s response. “In the wake of last week’s atrocity, it is more important than ever to finish carrying out the president’s mass-deportation operation.”

“America cannot allow millions upon millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be rewarded with amnesty.”

The White House outlined several actions ordered after the attack, including a comprehensive review of all Afghans admitted after August 2021, with the removal of any individual deemed a security threat.

Leavitt said immigration from what the administration classifies as “high-risk” countries has been temporarily halted as officials reassess screening procedures, adding that it is “essential to immediately address the massive fraud and corruption that has been going on for decades” in the asylum system.

For Shafaq News, Mostafa Hashem, Washington, DC.