President Trump said the “monstrous ambush” of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, Wednesday “underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation greatest national security threat” — namely, the surge in immigration into the US under former President Joe Biden.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth,” Trump said in an address to the nation from Palm Beach, Fla.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,” the president continued.
“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden, a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”
Trump added: “This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation. The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world.”
The president pledged to “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” and take “all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here.
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national suspected of carrying out the attack, was allowed into the US under a Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome resettlement program, sources told The Post.
Follow the latest on the National Guard shooting in Washington, DC:
- Afghan national who came to US in 2021 withdrawal, ID’d as alleged gunman who shot 2 National Guard members in DC
- Two National Guard troops shot near White House in suspected terror attack, alleged gunman in custody
- Trump requests 500 more National Guard troops to DC after shooting
- Trump vows ‘animal’ who shot 2 National Guardsmen will pay ‘steep price’
The program allowed roughly 90,000 Afghans to become eligible for Special Immigration Visas and provided the foreign nationals with immigration processing and resettlement support.
Bellingham, Washington, where the alleged gunman lived, was one of the cities earmarked for Afghan refugees, with about 800 resettled statewide in 2022, according to the Immigrant & Refugee Health Alliance.
Sources said Lakanwal, 29, had overstayed his visa and was illegally in the country when he allegedly ambushed and opened fire at two patrolling West Virginia Guardsmen in a possible terror attack Wednesday afternoon.
The crazed shooter was allegedly lying in wait when he launched his vicious attack near the Farragut West Metro Station in Northwest DC — just blocks from the White House — shooting a female guard in the chest before firing a round into her head, law enforcement sources said.
Lakanwal then allegedly fired at and struck the second guard — until a third soldier stationed nearby rushed to the area and took him down, sources said.
The two armed soldiers were rushed to a local hospital in critical condition, authorities said.
Trump did not provide any details about their current condition.
The assailant, who acted alone, was hauled away nearly naked in an ambulance and taken into custody.
Police have not revealed a motive for the attack.
“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,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X.
“I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants. These men and women of the National Guard are mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, children of God, carrying out the same basic public safety and immigration laws enshrined in law for decades.”
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Trump has since ordered 500 additional National Guard troops be sent to the nation’s capital.
The FBI is initially treating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism.
