After National Guard shootings, Afghan community in US is under attack

Following last week's shootings of troops in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national and US President Donald Trump vowing to end asylum claims, Afghans in the US are fearing for their future.

On 26 November, Rahmanullah Lakanwal went from his home in Washington state to Washington, DC, where he shot Andrew Wolfe and Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who later died from her wounds.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans and their families, who cannot safely return to their home country, are affected by Trump's decision to halt asylum for them and around 20 other nationalities.

"He's exploiting the tragedy to further his administration's anti-immigrant agenda," Jennifer Patota, deputy director of US legal services with the International Refugee Assistance Project, told The New Arab.

"I think the American people can see through this as pretextual. They understand that Afghans put their lives on the line to support the US mission in Afghanistan. They're allies and welcoming people," she said.

The refugee vetting process is considered among the most thorough. Moreover, once refugees go through the process, many lack a strong support network.

"This is a community that has already experienced extreme vetting. This is causing additional harm to a community that's already not well-supported," Hannah Vickner Hough, legal director of the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told TNA.

"It's approaching five years since the evacuation of Afghanistan. All Afghans should have green cards by now. But the administration is adding additional restrictions and has narrowed the avenue [to immigration]," she said.

In August 2021, the US withdrew its remaining forces from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year occupation and a war that many saw as futile.

During Trump's first term, he agreed with the Taliban on a full withdrawal, which his successor Joe Biden implemented abruptly, leaving an opening for the Taliban's takeover days later.

Along with US forces and their allies, Afghans who worked as interpreters and other support for the Western occupation tried to flee. However, many were hindered by a thick bureaucracy, keeping them in Afghanistan and third countries long after the fall of Kabul. Those who were able to relocate to the US continued to face bureaucratic hurdles in their path to residency.

"Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation," Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform, on Thanksgiving, the day after the shooting. "Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won't be here for long!"

He spent the following days railing against Somalis, another community seeking safety from their war-torn country. As he did before the shooting, Trump is blaming immigrants, particularly from poor countries, for crime, although immigrants have a significantly lower crime rate than native born US citizens.

Right now, Afghans and others from Muslim-majority countries are facing further isolation as they fear getting detained if they go out in public.

Amina Fields, an immigrants' rights attorney with CAIR-Los Angeles, told TNA that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are targeting Afghan men for detention when they check in for their immigration appointments.

She recently gave a lecture on immigrants' rights, but few Afghans attended, she said, for fear the event would be a target of ICE.

"What we're seeing is an increase in detentions of Afghan nationals for people who are going to their immigration court proceedings," she said. "It is very heartbreaking and concerning. I feel for the families impacted. Most of them have done everything they can to follow the guidance to be able to seek asylum."