Chief law enforcement officer and intelligence analyst John Miller said the Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guardsmen on Wednesday went through multiple rounds of federal vetting before securing asylum in the United States earlier this year. Authorities say the suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guardsmen near the White House, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who entered the U. S. on humanitarian parole after fleeing the Taliban takeover. During a segment on “Anderson 360,” Miller revealed that the suspect first arrived from Afghanistan in 2021 and went through multiple vetting processes. “What we know is that he comes here from Afghanistan. Now, this is a guy who’s been living in Washington state, not Washington DC, on the other end of the country. He comes here from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021,” Miller said. “Remember what that was like. Refugees fleeing Afghanistan. People had to be recommended by U. S. people on one end, vetted on this end by government background checks as far as they could do in Afghanistan, have sponsors and so on.” The suspect, Miller said, eventually settled in Washington state and applied for asylum in December 2024, launching a separate, formal vetting process. WATCH: “He settled in Washington. He applies for asylum in December of 2024. Now he goes through another vetting process involving that. And he’s approved for asylum in April of this year under the Trump administration,” Miller said. “He comes in under the Biden administration. These checks are being done. I remember as a part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York where we supplied people for that vetting process, it was a lot of pressure. There was a lot of people. They were being kept in military installations.” Miller added that the suspect likely qualified for entry through the Allies Welcome Program because he had worked for or alongside U. S. forces in Afghanistan. “A lot of that vetting had to be done very quickly. I also remember we had to go back afterwards when we found information on certain people and bring them back,” Miller said. “In this case, that’s all we know about this individual, but it appears that he must have done work either for or with the United States and Afghanistan to become part of the Allies Welcome Program and be brought here.” Federal records and independent reviews show the 2021 Afghan evacuation unfolded under extraordinary strain, with roughly 80, 000 evacuees moved through security checks on compressed timelines as Kabul collapsed. Afghan evacuees were “temporarily housed at 8 military bases before relocating to communities throughout the United States” while they completed immigration processing, according to the Oct. 21, 2021 congressional hearing on Operation Allies Welcome. Humanitarian parole was used broadly to expedite entry, reflecting the urgency of the crisis rather than traditional, slower refugee processing. Oversight documents also note that officials revisited certain cases after arrival when new information surfaced, which supports Miller’s account of teams working under intense pressure and sometimes having to re-screen individuals. (RELATED: ‘About As Cold Blooded An Attempted Murder As We Can Imagine’: Brit Hume Examines Motive Of Man Who Shot Guardsmen) President Donald Trump ordered a federal takeover of Washington, D. C.’s Metropolitan Police Department on Aug. 11 to confront rising crime, days after Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine known as “Big Balls” was badly injured while trying to stop a mob-led carjacking. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that Trump ordered 500 more National Guard troops into Washington, D. C., after the shooting. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation. org.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/11/26/rahmanullah-lakanwal-national-guardsmen-shooting-suspect-underwent-vetting-process/
‘A Lot Of Pressure’: National Guardsmen Shooting Suspect Underwent Vetting Process And Approved For Asylum This Year
