Donald Trump’s administration is prioritizing the deportation of Afghan citizens who have already been ordered to leave the United States, as part of a broader crackdown on refugees from Afghanistan following the attack on two National Guard soldiers in Washington, according to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times.
“It has become necessary to review the census of Afghan citizens,” an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official wrote in an email sent to the agency’s local departments on November 29 — three days after the attack.
ICE agents were tasked with “locating and detaining” more than 1,860 Afghans across the country who have received final removal orders from an immigration judge but are not currently in custody, the email said. Those instructions spread to local Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices this week, and federal agents were asked to focus on tracking and arresting Afghan nationals, according to two people familiar with the directive who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
In addition, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services work to ensure Afghans who are admitted to the United States are “properly investigated,” the documents state.
The move is part of President Trump’s response to last week’s shooting that killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition. The man accused of shooting is an Afghan immigrant named Rehmanullah Lakhanwal, 29, who served in a CIA-backed paramilitary unit in Afghanistan.
Lakanwal, who reportedly suffered from mental health issues after his combat experience, was one of more than 190,000 Afghans resettled in the United States since 2021 through programs created by the Joe Biden administration to help US allies who fled Taliban control.
Since the shooting, Trump has intensified his aggressive stance against immigrants and accused his predecessor of failing to adequately vet people who arrived in the country through the programs. Lakanwal arrived in the United States in September 2021 through a program called Operation Welcoming Allies. He was granted asylum in April during the Trump administration.
Biden administration officials stated that Afghan citizens who arrived through this process were properly screened and vetted. Republicans pointed to an inspector general report that later found major flaws in the process.
In recent days, the Trump administration suspended all asylum applications and stopped issuing visas to people from Afghanistan; It began reviewing all asylum cases approved during the Biden administration; It said it would review green cards issued to people from 19 countries.
Together, these decisions could radically reshape US immigration policy and restrict immigrants’ ability to enter and live legally in the United States.
Spokespeople for the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new enforcement actions focused on Afghans.
They are not the only ethnic group specifically targeted by the Trump administration for immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also launching an operation primarily targeting hundreds of Somali immigrants who have no legal status in the Minneapolis area.
But the government is particularly focused on refugees from Afghanistan. Documents obtained by the newspaper showed that the agency’s local offices received instructions to send daily reports specifying the number of Afghans being deported, arrested, and investigated.
In the past, ICE has taken “a more individualized approach based on national security risks” rather than broadly targeting members of ethnic groups without specific information, according to Claire Treckler McNulty, a former department official who served in Democratic and Republican administrations.
DHS officials say they do not target people based on race. Sean Van Diver, president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of groups that helps Afghans migrate, said current efforts amount to “collective punishment” and are a “colossal waste of resources.” “This is not the appropriate response to this heinous crime,” Vandiver said.