Divisions among Republicans are widening over President Trump's expanded limits on Afghan immigration following a fatal Washington, D.C., shooting, with several GOP lawmakers urging more tailored vetting measures to protect Afghan allies who aided U.S. forces.
Building on initial reactions to a November 2025 shooting in Washington, D.C., in which police say Rahmanullah Lakanwal — an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 under President Biden's Operation Allies Welcome program and was granted asylum earlier this year — fatally shot a National Guard member, the Trump administration has announced a broad tightening of Afghan immigration pathways, according to NPR.
Under the new policy, the administration has ordered a pause on nearly all forms of Afghan immigration, including asylum processing, green card applications, most visas, and refugee resettlement, while officials conduct a review of vetting procedures. The administration is also moving to roll back certain temporary protections for Afghans, in a move that NPR reports echoes restrictive steps taken in Trump's first days in office that left thousands of Afghans — including some who had assisted U.S. troops — in limbo.
Afghanistan has been among the leading sources of U.S. refugee admissions in recent years. According to NPR's reporting on State Department data, roughly 14,700 Afghan refugees were admitted in fiscal year 2024.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson blamed the Biden administration's approach to Afghan resettlement for the D.C. killing. "This animal would've never been here if not for Joe Biden's dangerous policies which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people," she said, according to NPR. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also raised the possibility that Lakanwal may have been radicalized after his arrival in the United States, while acknowledging that investigators are still working to determine a motive.
Some Republicans in Congress, however, are warning that sweeping restrictions could endanger Afghans who risked their lives to help U.S. forces. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has cautioned against what he described as "knee-jerk" moves that could jeopardize Afghan partners who supported American special operations units. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has highlighted the potential risks to interpreters and other Afghans who worked alongside U.S. troops, arguing that the focus should be on stronger vetting rather than blanket pauses, NPR reports.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is backing legislation known as the "Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act," which would expand vetting and provide a more durable path to permanent residency for certain Afghan evacuees. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has said that further congressional action or additional changes in U.S. policy would be premature while the facts of the D.C. shooting and the administration's review are still developing.
On the House side, Republicans recently removed from the annual defense policy bill a bipartisan provision that would have restored a State Department office dedicated to coordinating relocations for at-risk Afghans. That move drew criticism from advocacy groups, including Shawn VanDiver of the coalition AfghanEvac, who argued that dismantling such efforts sends a chilling message to current and future U.S. partners overseas.
