A brazen daylight shooting in the heart of Washington, D.C., which left two National Guard members critically wounded, has prompted the United States to suspend all immigration processing for Afghan nationals. The policy shift, announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), follows an incident authorities have described as an "ambush" carried out by an Afghan citizen who entered the country during the 2021 evacuation. The attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon near the Farragut Square Metro Station, just blocks from the White House. According to Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll, the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, "came around the corner and immediately started firing" in what he characterized as an ambush. The two injured soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were rushed to hospital and remain in critical condition. The suspect was shot and subdued by responding officers. In response, President Donald Trump condemned the "monstrous ambush-style" attack, which he labeled an "act of terror." He vowed to re-examine "every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan" under the previous administration and remove foreigners "who does not belong here." The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed the suspension of Afghan immigration requests, pending a comprehensive review of security and vetting protocols. The suspect's background is central to the ensuing political firestorm. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated that Lakanwal was "one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome," a Biden-era program that brought approximately 77,000 Afghans to the U.S. following the Taliban takeover. Secretary Noem asserted the program "let in thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals including terrorists into our country." However, this characterization is contested by other law enforcement officials, who confirm that Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted it in 2025—a legal process undertaken during the current administration that inherently involves vetting. This discrepancy highlights the tension between the administration's narrative and the procedural facts of the case. The immediate fallout includes President Trump's directive to deploy 500 additional National Guard members to the capital. The long-term implications are more profound, potentially triggering a large-scale re-examination of the thousands of Afghans who sought refuge in the U.S., their futures now hanging in the balance of a fraught security review.