Fear, stress and worry have gripped the lives of thousands of Afghans living in the United States since an Afghan national was charged with shooting two National Guard members near the White House last week, prompting the Trump administration to aggressively expand its efforts to crack down on legal immigration from Afghanistan.
In Florida, a former Afghan soldier who fought alongside the U.S. military in his homeland fears people in his community will be unfairly targeted by immigration officials. An Afghan father who worked as a driver for a ride-sharing service in Portland, Oregon, stopped having conversations with his passengers for fear of possible hateful retaliation, and an Afghan academic in Washington, DC, warns against “turning this incident into a broad judgment on Afghan immigrants.”
Across the country, Afghans condemned the shooting that killed Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and seriously injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, and expressed their condolences to the families of both National Guard members. But they also criticized the change in immigration policy based on the actions of a single person. Among those critics is Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, who on Wednesday called the shooting “an individual act” that “has nothing to do with Afghanistan and its respectable people.”
“There’s no question that what was done was horrible,” said Yahya Haqiqi, president and CEO of Afghan Support Network, a nonprofit organization in Oregon. “The problem is, why does it go back into the broader community?”
“It’s like if someone on your street commits a crime and you put the whole neighborhood in jail,” Haqiqi told NBC News.
After the alleged gunman was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan asylee, US Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended all asylum decisions for applicants from 19 countries deemed “high risk” by the Trump administration in June, including Afghanistan.
Lakanwal, who worked for the US military during the war against Afghanistan, came to the United States as part of the Biden administration’s emergency effort to resettle thousands of Afghans at risk during the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Lakanwal, a refugee in the United States, requested asylum, which was granted in April during the Trump administration.
Trump administration officials have blamed Biden-era policies for allowing Lakanwal into the country. On Wednesday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email that “the Trump administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to foreign nationals from countries of concern.” The spokesperson did not say whether the president was considering reviewing asylum cases granted during his own administration, as was the case for Lakanwal.
“The Trump Administration is doing everything possible to ensure that the people who become citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” the DHS spokesperson added. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake.”
The Trump administration had already halted the resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan earlier in the year and issued a travel ban to 19 countries, including Afghanistan, over the summer, although there was an exception for Special Immigrant Visa applicants. But after the recent shooting, the Trump administration has all but blocked legal immigration from the country.
USCIS has stopped processing all immigration applications related to Afghan citizens indefinitely. USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow said his agency also launched a “reexamination of every green card” issued to people from the 19 countries that had previously been barred from entering the U.S., and the State Department announced it “paused issuance of visas for people traveling on an Afghan passport.”
The announcements caused a chilling wave of uncertainty among the more than 190,000 Afghans resettled in the United States since 2021.
On Monday, Haqiqi received phone calls from community members in Oregon seeking answers, especially those in the process of reuniting with family members left behind in Afghanistan during the chaos of the 2021 evacuation, he said.
Among those concerned is an Afghan father in Portland who holds a green card. Speaking with NBC News, he asked not to be identified for fear that his legal immigration could be compromised as USCIS begins to re-examine green cards issued to Afghans.
“I feel sad and worried that innocent Afghans may face more trials,” he said. “We just want peace.”
A doctor on the front lines of the pandemic in Afghanistan, he was forced to flee his homeland after his and his family’s safety was threatened due to his public health work with international partners and leading medical institutions.
He came to the United States last year on a Special Immigrant Visa and now has a green card. Being able to legally live and work permanently in the United States has allowed him to study for an extensive three-part exam required to practice medicine in the United States; all while working as a driver for a ride-sharing service to support his family and adjust to a new country.
“Being a doctor is not impossible here in the US, but it is very difficult. It is very difficult,” he said, adding that he has already passed the first part of the medical licensing exam and is preparing for the second part next year.
Like him, most Afghans who came to the United States are seeking security, opportunity and a better life, he said. “We all respect this country and its laws, so when something like this happens, the entire community feels sad and worried.”
“We are part of this community. We are all sad, like all Americans,” he added.
Other Afghans in Oregon expressed concern about their work authorizations, as they are tied to their legal immigration status, and renewals are among immigration applications that are suspended indefinitely, Haqiqi said.
Abdul Wahid Gulrani, an Afghan refugee who fled violence and extremism in search of safety and is now a visiting scholar at George Washington University in D.C., said it is important to emphasize that Afghans coming to the United States after the collapse of their homeland remain “overwhelmingly law-abiding despite facing serious financial, psychological, legal and social challenges.”
“Tens of thousands of newly arrived Afghans are working hard to rebuild their lives, study, work, volunteer and integrate into American society,” Gulrani said in an email. “No single law should be used to justify unnecessary restrictions on legal migration, reinforce prejudices or drive emotional policies based on reactions.”
In Florida, Abdullah Khan, an Afghan citizen with a green card, said his community fears being targeted by immigration officials because of the alleged gunman’s actions.
“This is a bad person,” Khan said. “The government should not treat us as if we are all the same.”
Immigration authorities are also stepping up efforts to locate and detain more than 1,860 Afghans across the country who have been given final deportation orders but are not currently detained, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Khan served as a member of an elite military unit of Afghans known as the National Mine Reduction Group, or NMRG, which went out in front of members of the US Special Forces during missions. His team’s main job was to identify and defuse improvised explosive devices, although it was not uncommon for them to fight alongside their American counterparts during Taliban ambushes.
That’s why Khan said he was horrified to learn that an Afghan who had also worked with U.S. forces was suspected of shooting the two National Guard members last week.
“It’s a terrible act,” Khan said. “All Afghans are very upset by what happened.”
As Afghans like him face the prospect of having their green cards re-examined, Khan said he feels confident after receiving assurances from some of his former Special Forces counterparts.
“Some of them came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry. We have you. There won’t be any problem for you,'” Khan said.
