“No. 1, the Trump administration issued a travel ban for 19 countries, including Afghanistan,” she said. “Special Immigrant Visas, which is a legal pathway to get here, which we know many Afghans have utilized to come into the country, has now been paused since the tragic shooting last week. Refugee admissions were suspended for Afghans from this administration on Day One, and refugee admissions into the country right now are essentially at zero.”

The State Department has also stepped up its scrutiny and vetting in the wake of the shooting, Leavitt added.

Leavitt also echoed the president’s attacks against former President Joe Biden’s administration for allowing the suspect accused of shooting two National Guard members on Wednesday in Washington into the nation and his leadership during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is alleged to have killed Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, of the West Virginia National Guard in the ambush last week.

“Nearly 100,000 Afghans were recklessly released into the United States with little to no vetting,” she said. “There was no regard for the disorder and violence that this would unleash on American communities and American culture. Reportedly, thousands of these strangers and unknown individuals were flagged to the Biden administration for national security, public safety, and fraud concerns.”

Although Trump’s effort to clamp down on immigration through the southern border has been vastly successful, Leavitt warned that “the threat in our interior remains real and urgent.”

“These public safety threats are already inside our land, and President Trump was elected on a promise to find and remove them, and he has already taken significant steps and made significant progress towards fulfilling this promise,” she added. “But there is more work to be done, because President Trump believes that he has a sacred obligation to reverse the calamity of mass unchecked migration into our country.”

When asked about the nation’s founding narrative as a nation of immigrants, Leavitt pointed to a recent report involving Somali immigrants in Minnesota who have allegedly defrauded multiple government social services programs, including one intended to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic under Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-MN) leadership.

Federal prosecutors claim that $1 billion in taxpayer money was stolen in three separate fraud schemes, according to the New York Times. The other two cases involve Minnesota programs meant to support providers in assisting people at risk of homelessness, and another meant to provide therapy for autistic children.

“The New York Times, to their credit, it was about six months too late, but they did write about how Somali immigrants in Minnesota have been ripping off American taxpayers,” Leavitt said. “In fact, 86 people have been charged in a rampant and widespread fraud scheme spanning multiple programs in Minnesota. Of those 86, 78 of those people are Somali, 91% of them charged. So far, 59 of those people have been convicted for their roles in fraud loss that has stolen $1 billion from taxpayers in one scheme.”

DHS REVEALS AFGHAN NATIONAL ADMITTED THROUGH BIDEN’S OPERATION ALLIES WELCOME ARRESTED FOR TERRORISTIC THREAT

Leavitt blamed Democratic leadership for the abuses of governmental programs meant to benefit American citizens.

“They are draining our resources that should be going to law-abiding, taxpayer-funded, taxpaying Americans, and this president is not going to put up with it anymore,” she said.