Trump Orders 500 More National Guard Troops to D.C. After Shooting

The president described the shooting as an “act of terror” and “a crime against humanity” and called the suspect, an Afghan national, an “animal.”

President Trump on Wednesday called for a crackdown on immigration and ordered 500 more troops to Washington after the shooting of two National Guard members patrolling the capital and the identification of an Afghan national as the suspect.

Mr. Trump posted a video shortly after 9 p.m. from Palm Beach, Fla., where he is spending Thanksgiving, describing the shooting as an “act of terror” and “a crime against humanity.” He called the suspect, whom people familiar with the investigation identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an “animal” who shot the guard members “at point-blank range in a monstrous, ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”

Although many details about the shooting were still unknown by nightfall on Wednesday, Mr. Trump did not hold back. He used the attack to launch a broadside against immigration, saying the shooting “underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation” and vowing to redouble his mass deportation efforts.

He said the suspect had entered the country in 2021 as part of a program under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that provided entry to Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban takeover of their country after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops.

“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country under Biden,” he said.

The president described what he saw as the stakes in nearly apocalyptic rhetoric. He called Afghanistan “a hellhole on earth” and warned about Somali refugees in what he called “the once great state” of Minnesota, renewing a push he made last week to strip protections from them. “No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival,” he said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said on Wednesday night that it had paused immigration applications from all Afghan nationals, including for those who worked for the U.S. government or NATO forces during the 20-year war in Afghanistan and were eligible for what is known as a Special Immigrant Visa.

“The S.I.V. program was one of the few remaining pathways,” said Mevlüde Akay Alp, a senior staff attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Program, a New York-based organization. “And it’s unsure if even this will continue.”

What other changes, if any, might happen in immigration policy were not immediately clear. Mr. Trump’s administration is already pursuing mass deportations and has taken steps to remove immigration protections for many Afghans.

More concrete was Mr. Trump’s request for hundreds more troops on the streets of the capital, in addition to the about 2,000 already there. Their deployment would be the latest development in a monthslong debate about the role of the National Guard in American cities to tackle crime. The Guard has traditionally been asked to provide humanitarian assistance when deployed domestically.

There is only one other city, Memphis, where troops are currently deployed; other cities are embroiled in court fights over whether troops can be deployed there. The Supreme Court is considering whether the president can deploy hundreds of National Guard troops in the Chicago area over the objections of state and local leaders.

Last week, a federal judge in Washington ruled that the president’s National Guard deployment appeared to violate the law. In particular, the decision found the combination of troops from a number of Republican states, assembled in Washington under central command, to be an unlawful use of the National Guard.

In her decision, Judge Jia M. Cobb blocked the deployment of the troops, who were scheduled to remain in the city until at least the end of February. But she stayed her own order, pausing it from taking effect until Dec. 11 in the interest of “orderly proceedings.” The Justice Department has appealed the ruling and sought emergency relief on Wednesday.

The shooting on Wednesday was sure to inflame the debate about how Mr. Trump has used the National Guard as part of his crackdown on crime.

Maj. Gen. William Enyart, a former adjutant general of Illinois — the Guard’s top officer in the state — said he was shocked that two Guard members had been shot near the White House.

“It is probably one of the safest places on this planet to be, so for two guardsmen to be murdered there — or shot and desperately wounded — in that location is really astounding,” said Mr. Enyart, who is a former Democratic congressman.

“I don’t want to see this turned into a political football,” he added, “which I’m afraid will happen.”

Brig. Gen. David L. McGinnis, a former chief of staff for the National Guard Association of the United States, an advocacy group, said that the decision to place Guard troops on foot patrol had made this outcome more likely.

“I would expect the White House to spin it,” he said, in this way: “Here’s another case why we need to put the Guard on every street in every blue city in the country.”

Elian Peltier and Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting.

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