President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed that he will terminate the popular green card lottery after an ISIS-inspired Uzbek man who entered the US under the programme killed eight people in New York in the deadliest terror attack in the country since 9/11
Trump said the attacker Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, who ploughed a pickup truck down a crowded bike path near the World Trade Centre killing eight people and injuring 11 others in an ISIS-inspired plot, was allowed to enter the US on a State Department programme known as the “Diversity Lottery Programme”
“I am starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery programme,” Trump told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting
“Today we mourn the horrifying terrorist attack in New York City just blocks away from the sight of the World Trade Center. The man drove a truck into a pedestrian bike path and murdered eight people and injured very, very seriously at least 11 more,” Trump said.
“All of America is praying and grieving for the families who lost their precious loved ones. Horrible Act. Our hearts break for them and we pledge to renew our resolve in their memory,” he said.
Trump called the Uzbek immigrant who carried out the attack an “animal.”
“My administration is coordinating closely between federal and local officials to investigate the attack and to further investigate this animal who did the attacking,” he added.
