NEW YORK: President Donald Tump asked the US Congress on Wednesday to end the “diversity visa lottery programme”, arguing that the Uzbek-origin man who carried out the New York attack entered the country under the scheme.
Unlike any other head of the United States before him, President Donald Trump blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats for immigration policies he claims allowed the suspect who killed eight people in New York on Tuesday to enter the country.
A 29-year-old Uzbek national allegedly drove a truck down a bike path and killed at least eight people.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday morning, Trump turned his focus from comforting those impacted in New York to attacking Democrats and advocating for the tougher immigration laws that defined his 2016 campaign.
Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo and Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio decried such statements indirectly by calling for unity in the rank and file of the citizens of the United States.
Senator Schumer condemned President Trump and accused him of “politicising and dividing America” and urged him to focus “on the real solution — anti-terrorism funding — which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget.
“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program’, a Chuck Schumer beauty,” Trump tweeted. “I want merit based.”
Minutes later, he added: “We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter).”
Trump later tweeted that he was ordering his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “step up our already Extreme Vetting Program.” It was not clear what programme the President was referring to. Reached on Tuesday night, the DHS referred all questions on the “vetting” order to the White House, which did not respond to questions.
Soon after Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning, Senator Schumer responded with a tweet of his own: “I guess it’s not too soon to politicise a tragedy.”
Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2017
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