WASHINGTON _ Turning overtly to politics in the aftermath of tragedy, President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed Democrats for immigration measures that he said allowed the terror attack in New York City and used the incident to push more restrictive policies.
Before a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump said he would take steps to immediately cancel the green card lottery program under which the alleged New York attacker entered the country.
"We need to get rid of the lottery program as soon as possible," Trump said.
He also said _ as he has before _ that he would seek to end "chain migration," which gives immigrants with family members in the country priority for entrance.
His comments followed a morning burst of tweets that targeted New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat.
"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. Trump cited "Fox and Friends" as his source for some of his information, but the Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City attack, had entered the U.S. in 2010 via the lottery.
"'Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems' said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness!" Trump added, citing the show.
Schumer criticized Trump for using the attack to score political points, then noted that the administration had proposed cutting the budgets of counterterrorism programs. He also mocked the administration's refusal to discuss gun control measures after the Las Vegas concert massacre, which administration officials had justified on grounds that the early focus should be on the victims.
"I guess it's not too soon to politicize a tragedy," Schumer tweeted.
Schumer, was among many members of Congress who backed the green card lottery Trump criticized. The program, initially created during the George H.W. Bush administration, when Schumer was in the House, was meant to allow individuals to enter the United States from countries that had low levels of immigration at that time. It had particular support from Irish-American and Italian-American groups, which have long had large immigrant populations in New York.
More recently, in the Senate, Schumer sought to cancel the lottery under a comprehensive immigration plan that passed the Senate in 2013 but was killed by opposition from conservative Republicans in the House. Trump opposed that plan.
The president's swift demand for more restrictive immigration policies _ and his denunciation of existing programs favored by Democrats _ follows a pattern from him after attacks involving Muslims.
He has been far more reticent _ or declined to respond at all _ following other tragedies. He delayed for two days criticizing white nationalists for their violent protest in Charlottesville, Va., this summer. He defended his reluctance then by saying he needed time to gather facts.
"It takes a little while to get the facts," he said. "So I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts."
After the New York attack, by contrast, Trump moved within hours from expressing support and condolences for the city to damage control that involved blaming others.
Tuesday's attack was the first terror strike inside the United States during Trump's presidency and was allegedly done in sympathy with Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the extremist group Trump has argued he has "on the run."
"We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in 8 years.Must be proactive & nasty!" he tweeted in September.
Trump also used the aftermath of the New York attack to make a pitch for what he termed "our already Extreme Vetting Program." He said he was tightening the vetting program but did not say how.
"Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!" Trump said.
It was unclear whether more restrictive vetting would have kept out Saipov, who allegedly drove a rented truck down a bicycle path on the west side of Lower Manhattan pm Tuesday, killing eight people and seriously injuring 11 others. Saipov came to the United States from Uzbekistan, which has not been among the countries covered by Trump's multiple travel bans.
