Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

Support the Forward

Funded by readers like you DonateSubscribe
Fast Forward

Trump Blames Schumer For Terror Attack Over 27-Year-Old Immigration Law

Less than 24 hours after a deadly terror attack left eight dead in Lower Manhattan, President Trump singled out New York Sen. Chuck Schumer for blame.

“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.” Trump tweeted early Wednesday.

The president was referring to a 1990 bill proposed by Schumer, while still in the House of Representatives, establishing a lottery that would provide immigration visas to residents of all countries. The idea later became part of a broader immigration law and since 50,000 Green cards are offered annually through lottery. Terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov entered the U.S. from Uzbekistan through this program.

In another Tweet, Trump quoted a Fox News attack on Schumer: “Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems” said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness!”

Schumer responded, stating his continued support for the visa lottery program.

“President Trump, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution – anti-terrorism funding – which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget,” he said.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.