(NewsNation) — The White House is casting blame on the Biden administration after an Afghan national allegedly threatened to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas.
The arrest of Mohammad Dawood Alokozay on Tuesday came one day before another Afghan national, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, allegedly shot two members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., one fatally, at point-blank range.
Both Alokozay and Lakanwal had been paroled into the U.S. under the Biden-era “Operation Allies Welcome,” a program that sought to resettle Afghan allies who were at risk after the American military pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.
Alokozay was charged with making terroristic threats after allegedly posting a video of himself on TikTok “indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X. She credited the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force with foiling the potential plot.
“The magnitude of the national security crisis Joe Biden unleashed on our country over the span of four years cannot be overstated. President Trump has directed his entire team to continue rooting out this evil within our borders,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday.
Alokozay was admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident in September 2022 under the administration of Biden, Fox News reported.
Lakanwal applied for asylum under the Biden administration, which the Trump administration granted in April, the organization #AfghanEvac said. That set the stage for the Lakanwal, who worked with the CIA in his home country, to apply for lawful permanent U.S. residence.
The Trump administration said its hands were effectively tied by Biden-era actions. President Trump, a Republican critical of past immigration policies, has promised sweeping changes in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly attack in Washington.
Authorities have not linked the alleged actions of the two Afghan nationals.