Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., on Friday urged President Donald Trump to focus on the victims of Wednesday's deadly attack on National Guard soldiers in Washington rather than pursue sweeping immigration actions.
Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. Trump announced Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, officials said. That Biden administration program evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but it was approved during the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
The president's response to the shooting has included plans to halt immigration from what he called "Third World Countries," revoke what he described as Biden-era illegal admissions, and reexamine green cards from 19 nations.
Dean said she wished Trump "would stay focused on the sadness and offer sympathy, continuing sympathy to these families."
She said the administration should instead be examining the circumstances of the attack.
"Let's take a look at exactly what happened here," Dean said. "How were these people in this setting and at this risk?
"Who is this suspect? What were his motivations?"
She said one violent act — "possibly political violence" — does not justify broad restrictions on immigrants, adding that it "does not equate to 19 countries and immigrants from all over the world."
Dean called Trump's approach "a leap that makes no sense whatsoever" and described the administration's actions as "hectic" and consistent with "the way of this administration."
She said she wished Trump would return to the priorities he set upon entering office, which she described as "bringing peace to our country and around the world, bringing prices down, and not making sweeping accusations against all immigrants" and added that such accusations are "just un-American."
Dean said the Thanksgiving season is a reminder of the contributions immigrants make in the United States.
She said Americans should be "thankful for the immigrant population who comes and makes our country richer," noting that "most of us are immigrants."
Trump said on Thursday he would suspend migration from what he called "Third World Countries," a day after the attack.
His social media post, which also threatened to roll back "millions" of admissions granted under Biden, marked a new escalation in the immigration stance of a second term defined by Trump's large-scale deportation policies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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