» Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said the attack provides another reason to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, which he has been urging for months.

Georgia senator touts RAISE Act in light of NYC tragedy.

WASHINGTON — Reports that the Uzbek immigrant who carried out Tuesday’s terrorist attack in New York City legally received a green card under a U.S. lottery system underscore the need to eliminate the popular federal program, Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue said.

The freshman Republican said the attack, which left eight dead and 11 injured, put an “exclamation point” on his months-long effort to advance legislation that would overhaul the country’s legal immigration system.

“This diversity lottery has been abused. It’s fraudulent, and here’s an example of a guy who came in and is under a green card,” Perdue told reporters Wednesday. “We didn’t anticipate this, but it certainly heightens the issue and why we’re so focused on it.”

Perdue for months has been pushing his bill, the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy, or RAISE Act, that would among other changes eliminate the State Department’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. The lottery system selects roughly 50,000 people annually to permanently live in the U.S., or roughly 0.3 percent of applicants to the program.

Supporters tout it for its melting pot ethos — particularly for admitting often-overlooked immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean — but critics say it is susceptible to fraud.

“This is just an example of what we did call out a few months ago that said that the diversity lottery is one of the places where people could get in that we might not want to get in,” Perdue said.

The RAISE Act is backed by President Donald Trump, and components are reportedly under consideration as Senate Republicans negotiate a legislative compromise to give legal status to so-called Dreamers who came to the U.S. illegally as children. The bill, which is co-authored by Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton.

Trump said in a tweet Wednesday that the New York attack shows why the country should get “MUCH tougher” on immigration, and he told reporters “we need to get rid of the lottery program as soon as possible”

The president also singled out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Twitter for introducing the bill that led to the lottery’s creation in the 1990s.