The Trump administration issued a warning Friday after a senior intelligence official disclosed that the Afghan suspect accused in the fatal Washington, D.C., shooting had not been vetted before entering the United States.
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Rahmanullah Lakanwal was “not vetted” prior to his 2021 entry into the country. Kent attributed the lapse to policies in place during the Biden administration.
According to Kent, more than 2 million people arrived in the U.S. from “Muslim-majority nations and regions” during that period, many with “minimal scrutiny amid record border crossings.” He said the total included approximately 85,000 Afghans who were “rapidly admitted” without the screening procedures used in previous years.