President-elect Donald Trump and some of his allies in Congress have blamed the recent deadly New Orleans truck attack on President Joe Biden’s border policies, even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen. The attacker was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas, who was shot and killed by police after running over a crowd of people on Bourbon Street.
Following initial erroneous reports from Fox News that the attacker had crossed over from Mexico, Trump and his allies, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, used the incident to criticize Biden’s border policies. Trump doubled down on his message on Truth Social, blaming the attack on the Biden administration’s handling of the nation’s borders, stating that violent crime is at record levels.
Other Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, Rep. Eli Crane, and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, also blamed the attack on the border situation and pushed for tougher border security measures. However, NBC News reported that a very small percentage of migrants crossing the border are on the terrorist watchlist, with fewer than 2 out of every 10,000.
Despite Fox News’ clarifications and requests for comment from Trump’s transition team and other Republican representatives going unanswered, Trump and his allies continue to exploit the New Orleans attack to push their anti-immigration stance and criticize Biden’s border policies.
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