Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem deflected questions on whether or not the Trump administration had totally vetted the suspected Nationwide Guard shooter, an Afghan nationwide, when it granted him asylum earlier this 12 months, then repeatedly shifted the blame to former President Joe Biden.
Showing Sunday on NBC Information’ “Meet the Press,” Noem instructed host Kristen Welker: “We believe [the suspect] was radicalized since he’s been here in this country.”
“We will never allow this to continue to happen in our country, allow individuals who came to our country that were unvetted by Joe Biden, allowed to run free and loose,” she added. “We are going to bring them to justice and make sure that they’re returned out of this country if they aren’t here for the purposes of being an American.”
Noem’s remarks got here after Trump introduced plans to “permanently pause migration from all third-world countries” following the capturing of two Nationwide Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Thanksgiving eve in an ambush assault tied to suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Lakanwal, who moved to the U.S. to serve in a particular CIA-backed Afghan Military unit, faces prices of assault with intent to kill whereas armed and possession of a firearm throughout a criminal offense of violence.
Welker then famous that Lakanwal would have “undergone extensive vetting” throughout his CIA tenure and likewise had his asylum software accredited in April 2025 by Citizenship and Immigration Providers, an company that is part of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety.
“Why did the Trump administration grant the suspect asylum in April? Did you know then that he was moving toward radicalization?” Welker requested.
Noem ignored the query and continued to criticize Biden.
“The Biden administration put people on airplanes, brought them to the United States without vetting them,” Noem mentioned.
Biden introduced a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The withdrawal resulted in suicide assaults at Kabul’s airport, which killed 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. troopers, amongst different violent incidents. The GOP rebuked Biden for the transfer.
Welker went on to grill Noem over the precise kind of vetting that the Trump administration did earlier than giving asylum to Lakanwal.
“So, just to be very clear, was there a vetting process in place to approve that asylum request?” Welker requested.
“Yeah,” Noem mentioned. “The vetting process all happened under Joe Biden’s administration.”
Welker interjected, “But was he vetted when he was granted asylum?”
“That is what is so broken—” Noem replied, to which the NBC host added, “Are you saying he wasn’t vetted when he was granted asylum?”
Noem once more deflected blame, and claimed the vetting “was completely abandoned under Joe Biden’s administration.”
Watch Noem’s look on “Meet the Press” beneath.
