Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House by an Afghan national was a “clarifying moment” that vindicated his 2021 warnings about the dangers of Joe Biden’s mass admission of unvetted Afghan migrants.
The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States on a visa following Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan; his legal permission to remain in the country expired in September.
Vance reacted shortly after Fox News confirmed Lakanwal as the suspect. “I remember back in 2021 criticizing the Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees,” Vance wrote on X. “Friends sent me messages calling me a racist. It was a clarifying moment.” He added that Lakanwal and thousands of others “shouldn’t have been in our country.”
The vice president then posted a second statement making clear that the Trump administration views the attack as a mandate from the American people to strengthen deportation efforts. “Many of our voters will demand not just words, but action,” Vance wrote. “This is an entirely appropriate response. We will first bring the shooter to justice, and then we must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country.”
He criticized corporate media outlets that have claimed Trump’s immigration actions are overly harsh. “Tonight is a reminder of why they’re wrong,” Vance said.
Vance also referenced comments he made in 2021 in a video that resurfaced after the shooting. In that clip, he argued it was irresponsible to import large numbers of migrants from societies with fundamentally different cultural norms.
He cited a Pew Research survey indicating that roughly 40 percent of Afghans believed suicide bombing could be justified in some circumstances. “Let’s have an honest question about what exists in Afghanistan,” Vance said at the time. “So yes, let’s help the Afghans who helped us, but let’s ensure that we’re properly vetting them, so that we don’t get a bunch of people who believe they should blow themselves up at a mall because someone looked at their wife the wrong way.”
Following the attack, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed both Guardsmen remained in critical condition. President Trump spoke forcefully Wednesday night, calling the suspect an “animal” and vowing swift consequences. He also stated that the shooter was “severely wounded.”
“We will bring the perpetrator of this barbaric attack to swift and certain justice, if the bullets going in the opposite direction haven’t already done that,” Trump said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced shortly after Trump’s remarks that the president had authorized the deployment of an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., underscoring the seriousness with which the administration is treating the attack.
For Vance, the incident is proof that Biden’s hasty acceptance of Afghan migrants without adequate vetting created risks that the country is now paying for. As he put it, the tragedy is “a reminder of why we were right in 2021 — and why we must act decisively now.”
[READ MORE: Erika Kirk Says Support for JD Vance in 2028 “In the Works,” Reflecting Late Charlie Kirk’s Wishes]
