Jeff Sessions: NYC bombing boosts case for immigration reform

by Melissa Quinn | Dec 11, 2017, 5:11 PM

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday’s attempted terror attack in New York City underscores the need for immigration reform and the adoption of a merit-based immigration system.

“The president is exactly correct about the changes we need to our immigration system,” Sessions said in a statement. “We have now seen two terrorist attacks in New York City in less than two months carried out by people who came here as a result of our failed immigration policies that do not serve the national interest — the diversity lottery and chain migration.”

Police identified 27-year-old Akayed Ullah as the suspect in Monday morning’s bombing of a New York City subway corridor. Ullah was allegedly wearing an “improved low-tech explosive device” that was attached to him by Velcro and zip ties.

The device detonated while Ullah walked through a highly-trafficked tunnel linking the Eighth Avenue subway lines with the Seventh Avenue subway lines. Three people were injured, and Ullah sustained burns and lacerations.

Ullah is an immigrant from Bangladesh who came to the U.S. in February 2011 with an F-43 family immigrant visa, the White House said. He obtained a green card and is now a legal permanent resident.

Sessions also referenced an October terror attack in New York City, in which Sayfullo Saipov allegedly drove a truck down a bike lane, killing eight. Saipov is an Uzbek national who came to the U.S. in 2010 through the State Department’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.

“It is a failure of logic and sound policy not to adopt a merit-based immigration system,” Sessions said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders agreed that Monday’s attack highlighted the need for changes to the current immigration system.

“This attack underscores the need for Congress to work with the president on immigration reforms that enhance national security and public safety,” Sanders said during the White House press briefing. “We must protect our borders and we must ensure that individuals entering our country are not coming to do harm to people, and we must move to a merit-based immigration system.”

Trump has endorsed the RAISE Act, sponsored by GOP Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, which would create a merit-based immigration system and end the diversity visa lottery.

He also proposed a three-pronged immigration reform agenda to Congress in October that calls for the creation of a merit-based system that ends chain migration.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/je...rticle/2643168