Tom Homan Foresees Mass Deportations Over Third World Migrant Vetting Concerns

A tragic shooting by an Afghan national has thrust the issue of migrant vetting into the national spotlight, raising serious questions about border security under past policies.

The incident, which claimed the life of a National Guardsman and left another critically injured, has sparked a fierce policy response from President Donald Trump and his administration, promising sweeping changes to migration from certain nations, as The Daily Caller reports.

The tragedy unfolded on a Wednesday when Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national resettled in the U.S., allegedly opened fire on two National Guardsmen. West Virginia Army National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, just 20 years old, succumbed to her injuries the following day, while Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition. Reports suggest Lakanwal shouted a religious phrase before the attack, intensifying public concern.

Background of the Alleged Shooter

Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. in September 2021, shortly after the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program. This initiative aimed to resettle Afghans who had supported American forces, and Lakanwal himself had worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA.

Despite this background, questions linger about the thoroughness of his vetting process. He applied for asylum in 2024 and, somewhat ironically, was granted it in April 2025 under the very administration now scrutinizing such cases.

The attack has ignited a firestorm of reaction from President Trump, who took to Truth Social on Thursday with a blunt promise to halt migration from numerous countries. His administration, he declared, would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.” Well, that’s one way to slam the door shut, though one wonders if the lock can hold against legal challenges.

Trump's Hardline Policy Shift

Trump didn’t stop there, vowing to “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions.” It’s a bold stance, painting a broad brush over countless individual stories, but it resonates with those frustrated by perceived border laxity.

On Sunday, White House border czar Tom Homan doubled down during an appearance on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” warning that most migrants from certain regions might face deportation. He argued that vetting challenges make it nearly impossible to ensure safety.

Homan stated, “[T]hese Third World nations, they don’t have systems like we do. So, a lot of these Afghanistans, when they did get here and get vetted, they had no identification at all.” His point stings—relying on unreliable or nonexistent records is like building a house on sand.

Vetting Issues Under Scrutiny

Homan further elaborated, “And we’re going to count on the people that run Afghanistan, the Taliban, to provide us any information [on] who the bad guys were or who the good guys are? Certainly not.” Trusting adversarial regimes for intel seems a fool’s errand, and his skepticism is hard to dismiss.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed this tough approach on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” confirming plans to deport individuals with pending asylum claims. It’s a policy shift that prioritizes security over humanitarian considerations, though critics may argue it risks casting too wide a net.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also jumped into action, announcing a pause on processing immigration requests for Afghan nationals as of Thursday. They’re even reevaluating green cards issued to individuals from 19 “countries of concern,” focusing on the reliability of identity documents from those nations.

Broader Implications for Migrants

Since the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, over 180,000 Afghans have been resettled in the U.S., a staggering number now under renewed scrutiny. The administration’s focus on “negative, country-specific factors” in vetting suggests a seismic policy shift is underway.

This incident, heartbreaking in its human toll, has become a flashpoint for a much larger debate on border security and immigration policy. While the pain of Specialist Beckstrom’s loss and Staff Sgt. Wolfe’s struggle cannot be overstated, the response risks painting entire communities with the actions of one.

Still, when vetting systems falter, the stakes are tragically high, and the Trump administration seems determined to err on the side of caution. Whether this approach will strengthen national security or simply alienate allies remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the conversation on migration just got a lot louder.