Trump blasts “Diversity Visa Lottery Program” after NYC terror attack

President Donald Trump once used the 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California, to argue for a ban on Muslim entry to the US. Now, after an attack that killed eight people in Lower Manhattan Tuesday, he’s arguing that US immigration policy (and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer) is partially responsible.

Police say Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old suspect, plowed a rented pickup truck into pedestrians and cyclists on a busy bike path Tuesday afternoon. Initially, Trump blamed the attack on “a very sick and deranged person,” offered his “condolences and prayers,” and tweeted vaguely about ordering “Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program.” (It wasn’t clear, exactly, what he actually meant — and the White House hasn’t followed up.)

But Wednesday morning — apparently inspired by Fox & Friends — the president went on the offensive, lambasting the “Diversity Visa Lottery Program,” which he described as a “Chuck Schumer beauty.” Trump claimed that the suspect, who came to the United States from Uzbekistan legally in 2010, entered the country through this particular program:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925684982307348480?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">November 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Details about Saipov’s background are still trickling out, and Trump didn’t provide any additional information about how the suspect arrived in the United States. It’s not clear if Trump was just repeating unconfirmed reports — a local ABC affiliate first reported Saipov entered through the visa program, but according to the Washington Post, that hasn’t been officially corroborated — or publicly confirming that it was, in fact, how the man had come to the US.

The “diversity visa lottery” was created to bring in Irish and Italian immigrants
The program Trump referred to, the “Diversity Visa Lottery Program” (officially called the Diversity Immigrant Visa, or DV, Program), awards visas to people from countries that tend to have historically low immigration rates to the United States.

The program is part of the Immigration and Nationality Act, signed in 1990 by Republican President George H.W. Bush after bipartisan support in Congress.

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