Patricia Lopez, Columnist

‘Re-Vetting’ Hundreds of Thousands of Refugees Is an Overreaction

November 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM UTC

Patricia Lopez is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. She is a former member of the editorial board at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she also worked as a senior political editor and reporter.

Hoping for a better life.
Photographer: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images

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Days after President Donald Trump announced that more than 233,000 refugees would face fresh scrutiny over their legal status, an Afghan refugee was charged with shooting members of the National Guard near the White House, killing one and gravely wounding another.

That shooting has brought grief to the families of slain US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically injured US Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe. It has also heightened the uncertainty facing the more than 190,000 Afghans who resettled in the US after the fall of Kabul in 2021.