The Wall Street Journal on Thursday accused President Donald Trump of "exploiting immigration fears" by immediately attacking the visa program that allowed the suspected New York City terrorist to settle in the United States.
The New York newspaper also pointed out that there is no evidence that the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, was an Islamic terrorist when he was admitted to the United States from the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan in 2010.
However, the Journal sided with the president in the same editorial, saying Saipov, who reportedly declared his allegiance to the Islamic State, should have been "interrogated at length" before he was read his legal rights to remain silent and have a court-appointed attorney.
"So it’s unfortunate and counterproductive that President Trump’s first instinct has been to politicize the tragedy by blaming—what else?—immigration," the Journal said.
Trump criticized the diversity visa program, which grants permanent residency status to foreign applicants in an annual lottery, and demanded the United States switch to a "merit-based" system that would admit immigrants on the basis of their skills.
"In any event," the Journal said, "reducing immigration or improving background checks wouldn’t have prevented the New York attack or many of the other two dozen or so Islamist-motivated attacks since 2001."
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