Trump calls US border control a ‘joke’
Donald Trump called for more “extreme vetting” and labelled border control a “joke” after the New York terror attack that killed eight and injured 12. But in turn the president was criticised for politicising the tragedy in a way that would “play into the hands of the terrorists”.
DONALD TRUMP demanded the visa programme used by the New York attacker be scrapped yesterday as he labelled American border control a “joke”.
The US president hit out at “politically correct” opponents and called for more “extreme vetting” after the terror attack that killed eight and injured 12.
He also pledged to consider sending Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant who is under arrest, to the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay.
But in turn Mr Trump was criticised for politicising the tragedy in a way that would “‘play into the hands of the terrorists”.
The diversity lottery programme Mr Trump wants to close, also know as the green card lottery, gives US permanent resident visas to around 50,000 applicants a year.
Mr Trump said: “We have to get much smarter and we have to get much less politically correct.
“We’re so politically correct that we’re afraid to do anything. What we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughing stock and no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.”
Fresh details about what happened in the New York attack on Monday have now emerged.
Police announced it took just four minutes for Saipov to drive a truck for a mile down a bike path, hitting pedestrians, before eventually crashing into a school bus.
The attacker then emerged carrying a paintball gun and pellet gun shouting “Allahu akbar” – meaning God is Great – before being shot by a police officer.
A handwritten note in Arabic found the rented truck had a message to the effect of “the Islamic State will endure forever”.
The eight victims who died in the attack included five Argentinians who had travelled to the city for a high school reunion.
Police named the dead as Ariel Erlij, Hernan Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, and Hernan Ferruchi, all aged 48 or 49.
Also killed were Anne Laure Decadt, 31, from Belgium; Darren Drake, 32, from New Jersey; and Nicholas Cleves, 23, from New York.
The police officer who shot and injured the terror suspect was also named as Ryan Nash, a 28-year-old with just five years of experience.
The visa scheme Mr Trump wants to close was set up by President George H W Bush in 1990. Mr Trump said Saipov entered America on the scheme and claimed 23 other people “came in or potentially came in” with him. He said he wanted to end “chain migration”.
Mr Trump also pointed the finger of blame at the most senior Democrat in the Senate as he sought to tie political opponents to the scheme.
He said the programme was a “Chuck Schumer beauty” – a reference to the New York Senator who has clashed with Mr Trump in the past.
Mr Schumer hit back, tweeting that it is never “too soon to politicise a tragedy” and calling on Mr Trump to scrap cuts to “anti-terrorism funding”.
Andrew Cuomo, New York’s governor, said: “I am bothered by an attempt by anyone to try to politicise the situation. That plays right into the hands of the terrorists. They’re trying to disrupt, they are trying to create mayhem, they’re trying to divide.”
By Ben Riley-smith, Josie Ensor, Ben Farmer and Nick Allen
THE New York terror attacker appeared in court last night in a wheelchair with his hands and feet shackled, as he faced terrorism charges that could bring the death penalty.
Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was accused of providing material support to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as prosecutors said he was “consumed by hate and a twisted ideology”.
It came as the FBI said it had located a second man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, also an Uzbek, who was being treated as a person of interest in the case. At the New York federal courthouse Saipov was remanded in custody. He did not enter a plea and his next court date was set for Nov 15.
According to the 10-page criminal complaint, Saipov confessed that he began planning the attack a year ago and chose Hallowe’en for the attack because more people would be on the streets. He was inspired by Isil videos, and there were 3,800 Isil-related images on his phone, the complaint said.
He had originally planned to strike the Brooklyn Bridge as well as cyclists on a bike path.
The complaint said Saipov, who was shot by police after the attack, rein
Injured terror attacker asks for Isil flag to be put in his hospital room
quested permission to display Isil’s flag in his hospital room. He also said he felt good about what he had done.
Saipov followed “almost exactly” posts from Isil on social media about how to carry out the assault, a senior New York police officer said.
He arrived in the US in March 2010 and is believed to have become radicalised there. In 2013 he married Nozima Odilova, a 19-year-old fellow Uzbek national, in Ohio. The pair were believed to have three children, and he worked as a driver for Uber.