President Donald J. Trump delivered a forceful rebuke of the Biden administration following the shocking murder of National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old soldier gunned down in Washington, D.C. by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the United States during the Biden administration’s chaotic 2021 Afghanistan evacuation. Another Guardsman remains in critical condition, deepening national outrage over the circumstances that allowed the suspect to enter—and remain—in the country.

Trump squarely placed responsibility on the prior administration’s decision to admit tens of thousands of Afghan nationals with inadequate vetting, calling the situation “a direct failure of leadership and national security.” He emphasized that the suspect was “flown here by the previous Administration,” underscoring what he described as the reckless, rushed mass-evacuation that prioritized political optics over U.S. homeland safety.

“The suspect is an Afghan national flown here by the previous Administration,” Trump said. “We have no greater national security priority than ensuring full control over who enters and stays in our country. For the most part, WE DON’T WANT THEM.”

The former president’s remarks reflect a broader critique long made by immigration and national security hawks: that the Biden evacuation created an unprecedented vulnerability by allowing individuals into the United States who lacked proper documentation, reliable background checks, or confirmed identities. Lakanwal, a former CIA collaborator whose past associations should have triggered elevated scrutiny, was nonetheless admitted under emergency humanitarian parole, a mechanism that many experts warned was ripe for exploitation.

For Trump and his supporters, the killing of Specialist Beckstrom represents the tragic, predictable consequence of policy decisions that dismissed border security and immigration control in favor of rushed political theater. The loss of a young American soldier—killed not in a war zone but on the streets of her own capital—has become a defining symbol of what Trump argues is the Biden team’s catastrophic mismanagement.

The incident has reignited debate over national security, immigration vetting, and the future of U.S. counterterror policy. It has also strengthened calls for a complete overhaul of immigration screening procedures, with Trump reiterating that America must regain full authority over its borders and reject policies that compromise citizen safety.

As investigations continue, Trump’s message remains clear: the United States must never again allow political expediency to override national security. The nation, he insists, deserves leadership that protects its people first—and ensures tragedies like this one never happen again.