President Trump said Monday afternoon that a bombing attempt inside New York City’s subway system shows that lawful immigration must be restricted.
“America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security.”
Authorities say Bangladesh-born immigrant Akayed Ullah, 27, burned himself and a handful of others when he attempted to ignite a pipe bomb. Ullah reportedly arrived in the U.S. through lawful chain migration, a process where one relative becomes a U.S. citizen, allowing extended family to follow.
Ullah moved to the U.S. in 2011 with his parents and siblings on an immigration visa, authorities said, and lived legally with a green card in Brooklyn.
Trump used a separate New York attack, the October bike-lane massacre of eight people, to call for the elimination of another legal immigration mechanism, the diversity visa lottery intended to benefit residents of countries with historically low immigration rates.
Uzbekistan native Sayfullo Saipov, 29, is suspected of the October attack. Saipov immigrated to the U.S. in 2010 through the diversity visa system.
Trump called for the death penalty against Saipov, and in his Monday statement said, “those convicted of engaging in acts of terror deserve the strongest penalty allowed by law, including the death penalty in appropriate cases.”
Trump said Monday he views his proposed legal reforms as part of a broader effort alongside his temporary travel ban on eight countries, which the Supreme Court allowed to take effect last week after nearly of year of being put on hold during court review.
“My Executive action to restrict the entry of certain nationals from eight countries, which the Supreme Court recently allowed to take effect, is just one step forward in securing our immigration system,” Trump said.
“Congress must end chain migration. Congress must also act on my Administration’s other proposals to enhance domestic security, including increasing the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, enhancing the arrest and detention authorities for immigration officers, and ending fraud and abuse in our immigration system,” he said.
In August, Trump endorsed the RAISE Act which would limit “chain migration” to spouses and minor children an reform the immigration process to make English language proficiency, job skills and earning potential priorities for new admissions.
