BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in the nation’s capital to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration.

The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting near the White House that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both of the West Virginia National Guard, is facing charges including first-degree murder. Investigators are seeking to find a motive for the attack.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who had been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Seattle. He worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under President Donald Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country.

The Republican administration is promising to pause entry to the United States from some poor nations and review Afghans and other legal migrants already in the country.

The two service members were deployed as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission in the District of Columbia. Trump has sent or tried to deploy National Guard members to other cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts but has faced court challenges.

The office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., said the charges against Lakanwal also include two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. There were “many changes to come,” she told Fox News.

Asylum decisions halted

Trump said the shooting was a “terrorist attack” and he criticized the Biden administration for enabling entry to the U.S. by Afghans who had worked with American forces.

The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a post on the social platform X that asylum decisions will be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

Experts say the U.S. has rigorous systems to conduct background checks of asylum-seekers. Asylum claims made from inside the country through USCIS have long faced backlogs. Critics say the slowdown has been exacerbated under the Republican administration.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department has paused “visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.”

Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group #AfghanEvac, said in response: “They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them.”

More troops headed to the nation’s capital

The administration has ordered 500 more National Guard members to the nation’s capital. An Army spokesperson said several governors were planning to support the operation and that specific troop announcements would come from their offices. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president had asked him to send the troops.

Nearly 2,200 troops are currently assigned to the joint task force that has operated in the city since August, according to the government’s latest update.