President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the deadly truck attack in New Orleans validated his warning about criminals entering the U.S. across the border.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Mr. Trump said on social media.
A senior law enforcement official preliminarily identified Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, as the suspect who plowed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Orleans revelers early New Year’s Day. The law enforcement source said he was carrying an ISIS flag in the truck, and authorities have said he was dressed in military gear.
Mr. Trump also said that the crime rate in the U.S. is “at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”
“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department,” he wrote. “The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
A pickup truck driver plowed into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter early New Year’s Day in what the mayor called a terrorist attack that killed at least 10 people and injured 35 others.
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The driver died after engaging in a shootout with police that wounded two officers, authorities said.
The FBI said in a statement that it is investigating the incident as an “act of terrorism,” as the bureau took the lead in probing the attack. Improvised explosive devices were found at the scene.
Mr. Trump made crime and illegal immigration key issues of his re-election campaign and criticized the Biden administration for reversing his immigration policies and opening the southern border after he left the White House.
He was often condemned by Democrats and other detractors for saying that some illegal immigrants were violent criminals, a viewpoint he has espoused since first campaigning for the White House in 2016.
During his 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump and Republicans cautioned that those on the terrorist watch list have taken advantage of the Biden administration’s open border and Democrats are ignoring the warning signs.
Mr. Biden said in a statement that he has been continually briefed by federal law enforcement, his homeland security team and the mayor of New Orleans about “the horrific incident that occurred there overnight.”
“I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury,” Mr. Biden said. “I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”
He added, “My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday. There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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