The Fog Around an Afghan Shooter - by Michael Smith

Conflicting narratives about Rahmanullah Lakanwal reveal more about Washington’s political incentives than about immigration policy. - Michael Smith

A few uncontested facts, however, deserve attention.

• First, Lakanwal entered in 2021 during the Biden administration’s emergency evacuation process—one explicitly acknowledged by federal watchdogs as rushed, incomplete, and vulnerable to security gaps..
• Second, the same Democratic officials now professing concern about “who let him in” spent the early months of the Trump administration resisting personnel changes, policy reversals, and enforcement priorities across DHS, DOJ, and related agencies...
• Third, Democratic officials at the state and local levels have built an ecosystem designed to shield illegal immigrants—even those with criminal records—from federal enforcement...

The rush to redirect blame toward the Trump administration is less about the facts of the case than about managing a political liability that threatens to disrupt the left’s broader narrative. 

In that sense, the confusion surrounding Lakanwal’s status is not merely bureaucratic fog; it is a diagnostic sign of a political movement suddenly aware that the public is paying attention—and that its long-running experiment in non-enforcement is now under direct, uncomfortable scrutiny.