The shooting that took place in Washington - in which two members of the National Guard were seriously wounded of the United States - is an incendiary topic for several reasons: not only that the target of the attack were members of the guard, which is at the behest of the president Donald Trump on several occasions "marched" towards large American cities with the intention of settling accounts with immigrants, but the suspect in the attack (independent but targeted, according to the authorities) is no less than an Afghan.
In a televised address on the occasion, Trump called the shooting rated as an act of terrorism and said the attacker "will pay a very high price."
It was an initial reaction, and then concrete measures followed.
Trump ordered the deployment of 500 new National Guard members to Washington, announced that he would re-examine Afghans who came to the US during Joe Biden's tenure, and the US Migration Agency suspended all immigration applications from Afghanistan.
What is the National Guard and when does everything work?
The National Guard is a unit of the United States Army made up of reservists from all US federal units. The National Guard is normally commanded by the governor of the state, except in the case of a state of emergency or when assisting the police force, when necessary.
For example, the National Guard helped citizens during the fires in California this year. They also secured the inauguration of Joe Biden, which was organized a few weeks after the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters in January 2021.
Apart from internal actions, it can also be engaged in external actions, such as US military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
March on Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington...
However, during this year, Donald Trump, as commander-in-chief of the National Guard, increased the presence of guardsmen in major cities of the United States several times.
He was criticized at the time for wanting to "militarize" the US and to move National Guard units without regard to constitutional and legal authority.
When violent demonstrations erupted in Los Angeles this summer over immigration enforcement raids and arrests, Trump ordered the deployment of 2.000 National Guard troops to the California capital without consulting Mayor Karen Bass.
In October, Trump again approved sending 300 Guardsmen to Chicago, from Texas.
There have also been violent protests by immigrants for similar reasons as in Los Angeles, which has given Trump the right to arbitrarily declare the situation in Chicago a war and bypass the regular decision-making procedure.
Just a few weeks earlier, more than 2.200 members of the National Guard were deployed to Washington, D.C., where two guardsmen were wounded on Wednesday.
For a change, then the target was not refugees, but "homeless" and "criminals" through whose backs Trump intended to "bring order" in the capital.
Dealing with democrats and refugees
Several things connect each of these orders and it is hard to say that they are coincidences.
At the head of each of these three cities where Trump sent the National Guard were Democrats. Many interpreted that the US president was trying to portray his political opponents as incapable of fighting crime and immigrants.
While "solving" those problems, he simultaneously implemented his repressive policy towards refugees, under the guise of security measures even where there was no need for it.
Was it justified?
Trump's associates, on the other hand, following the policy of the very top, said that the situation in big cities is critical and that it can only be solved by the presence of long pipes.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Mueller (one of the more prominent "whips" of Trump's refugee policy), for example, compared Washington to Baghdad.
According to research that deals with crime rates in Washington, the number of violent crimes fell by 35 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. It is also the lowest result in the last 30 years.
Hence the considerable mistrust towards the moves that Trump is making when it comes to the National Guard and refugees. And what worries the citizens of Washington and the USA the most is that yesterday's shooting has something to do with both.
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