Every major change Trump has made after National Guard shooting as warning issued to green card holders

Federal immigration policy has changed quickly in the wake of the shooting of two US National Guard service members near the White House this week.

The Trump administration has announced a sweeping overhaul of various aspects of the immigration system after the Wednesday, November 26, shooting which claimed the life of Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and left US Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, fighting for his life in hospital.

The alleged gunman, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was taken into custody after another guardsman shot him during the incident in Washington DC, with the charges against him increasing to first-degree murder after the death of Beckstrom on Thursday, November 27.

Lakanwal had been admitted to the country in 2021 under a settlement scheme for locals who had worked alongside US forces. It has emerged since his arrest that the 29-year-old was part of an elite CIA counterterrorism unit, which NPR reports was 'used to carry out extremely violent clandestine missions.'

Rahmanullah Lakanwal was named as the suspect in the attack (FBI)

With so many rapid developments over the Thanksgiving holiday season as the White House responds to the shocking shooting in the nation's capital, we have gathered together all of the major changes announced over the past three days, affecting millions of people.

Hundreds of troops flood DC

In the hours after news of the fatal Washington DC shooting broke, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a huge escalation in the occupation of the capital with National Guard troops

“President Trump has asked me, and I will ask the secretary of the Army to the National Guard, to add 500 additional troops, National Guardsman, to Washington, DC,” Hegseth said.

Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries (Department of Justice)

This has increased the numbers of troops in the capital by around a quarter, with 2,500 guardsmen now making their presence known and patrolling the streets alongside local law enforcement.

This additional deployment marks a step change in the way that the National Guard is being used in DC, where previously many troops were being used for high visibility deployments in high crime areas, allowing local cops to focus on solving crimes rather than maintaining order.

“We will never back down. We will secure our capital. We will secure our cities,” Hegseth added. “If criminals want to conduct things like this - violence against America’s best - we will never back down.”

All asylum claims halted

The first massive immigration overhaul announced by President Trump in the wake of the fatal National Guard shooting was a total pause in the processing of all asylum claims made by Afghan nationals.

There are currently over 200,000 Afghans living in the US, making up just 0.4 percent of the total immigrant population of 46 million. Many of this number came over in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Andrew Wolfe is fighting for his life in hospital (Department of Justice)

Suspected shooter Lakanwal came over to the US that same year, eventually applying for asylum in 2024. This was granted after the former CIA contractor had gone through a vetting process.

The US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday that it would be suspending all Afghan asylum and immigration claims 'effective immediately', which would remain in place indefinitely 'pending further review of security and vetting protocols.'

On Friday, USCIS announced the suspension of all asylum claims from every country pending a review of current claims. Agency Director Joseph Edlow said this stoppage would be in place 'until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible'.

Crackdown on 'third-world countries'

The fatal shooting has seen hundreds of troops storm DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In a message sent late on Thanksgiving, Trump further explained his plan to crackdown on migration from 'third-world countries'.

The president said his administration would 'permanently pause migration from all third world countries', in a post that began by wishing the nation a 'happy Thanksgiving'.

In an 11pm social media post, Trump said this crackdown would include ending 'all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens', with the aim to remove any migrant who is not a 'net asset' to the US.

Trump did not clarify which nations were being classified as 'third-world' for the immigration ban. However, USCIS pointed to a list of 19 countries 'of concern' that had been identified for restrictions in June

These include Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Burundi, Laos, Togo, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Iran, and Turkmenistan.

Major green card review

As part of this crackdown on immigration and asylum claims, Trump promised on Thursday night to strip migrants of their settled status in a major review of the green card system - potentially ramping up the administration's efforts to remove people for taking part in protests.

Trump said he would 'denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization'.

At the direction of the president, USCIS Director Edlow said these steps would involve 'a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern'.

This would mean that any naturalized US resident from one of these poorly defined 'third-world countries' could have their status stripped from them under the review.