Under which president was the DC National Guard shooter granted asylum?

1. What the record says: asylum approval date and which administration made the decision

Government files and multiple news organizations report Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and that his application was approved on April 23, 2025 — three months after President Trump’s inauguration — meaning the asylum grant was made during the Trump administration ^{[1] [2]}. Reuters reviewed a government file showing the April approval date; the New York Times and Reuters both cite unnamed officials who said the suspect “received asylum” in April 2025 ^{[1] [4]}.

2. Why this detail became politically explosive

The fact that the asylum grant falls under the Trump administration has been central to immediate political arguments. Republican officials blamed the prior Biden administration’s vetting, while news coverage highlighted that the approval date was in April 2025 and that the Trump administration then halted asylum decisions and paused visa issuance for Afghan passport holders after the shooting ^{[1] [7]}. Outlets report the pause and review were framed by Trump officials as a response to perceived vetting failures, even as other political actors sought to point responsibility at earlier policies ^{[8] [9]}.

3. Conflicting timelines and public claims — what to watch for

Some social posts and early online claims misstated or conflated when Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. with when asylum was approved. Lakanwal entered under Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 (during the Biden administration) but applied for asylum in late 2024 and was approved in April 2025; several outlets emphasize that entry date separately from the asylum approval date, which has generated confusion in public debate ^{[2] [3]}. Snopes notes social posts claiming a Trump-era grant in April 2025 circulated and that coverage by Reuters, CNN, CBS and NYT reported the April 2025 approval ^[10].

4. Reporting consensus and remaining uncertainties

Major news organizations — Reuters, The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, AP and others — consistently report an April 2025 asylum approval and tie that date to the Trump administration’s term ^{[1] [4] [5] [6] [7]}. Available sources do not mention a contradictory official record showing a different approval date; however, some early social-media claims and partisan messaging mischaracterized the timeline or attributed responsibility differently ^[10]. Details about the internal vetting process and what specific checks were completed are described in only limited fashion in these reports (available sources do not mention detailed contents of vetting paperwork beyond general vetting assertions) ^{[1] [3]}.

5. Broader context: evacuation, parole, asylum and vetting

Reporting places Lakanwal’s arrival in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome — a humanitarian parole pathway used for Afghans who aided U.S. efforts — distinct from his asylum application, which came later in 2024 ^[2]. U.S. officials told Reuters the government file showed Lakanwal had been vetted because of his work with U.S.-aligned units during the Afghan war and that no potentially disqualifying information was found in that vetting ^[1]. After the shooting, the Trump administration announced a blanket pause on asylum decisions and additional immigration restrictions, citing concerns about vetting ^{[7] [3]}.

6. Competing narratives and implicit agendas

Political actors used the timeline to advance differing agendas: Republicans used the incident to justify stricter asylum and immigration controls and to criticize prior administrations’ policies, while some commentators and reporting emphasized that arrival under Biden-era evacuation programs complicated simple partisan attributions ^{[8] [9]}. Media reporting focuses on the April 2025 asylum approval to push back against claims that the Biden administration — rather than the Trump administration — granted asylum, but social-media misinformation and partisan messaging continue to circulate alternative framings ^{[10] [11]}.

7. Bottom line for readers

Contemporaneous, mainstream reporting shows the asylum decision for Rahmanullah Lakanwal was made in April 2025, after Donald Trump became president, and thus under the Trump administration ^{[1] [4] [2]}. Questions remain in public reporting about the exact vetting steps described in government files; available sources do not provide complete internal vetting records beyond summary statements that vetting did not reveal disqualifying information ^[1].