Despite the fact that the perpetrator was a U.S. citizen, President Joe Biden's border policies have been criticised by President-elect Donald Trump and his congressional allies for the deadly truck attack in New Orleans.
As news of the ramming attack began to circulate on Wednesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social, saying, "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."
“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before,” he stated“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.”
The attacker was later identified by officials as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, of Texas, a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran.
The driver had crossed the border from Mexico earlier this week, according to news report on Wednesday morning. He was shot and killed by police after running over a gathering of people on New Orleans's renowned Bourbon Street.
Later on Wednesday, the network withdrew the coverage, but not before Trump and a few of his supporters echoed it. The president-elect's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., shared a news item about the false allegation with the caption, "Biden’s parting gift to America — migrant terrorists."
Shortly after the first portion, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted: “TWO DAYS AGO, a terrorist attacker from New Orleans is reported to have crossed the border in Eagle Pass! Shut down the border!
Trump's Truth Social post later on Wednesday stated, "To be clear, the suspect was born in the United States." Trump however reiterated his claims Thursday in tweets on Truth Social that the Biden administration's management of the country's borders has resulted in "a violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy."
"With the Biden 'Open Border’s Policy' I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe," he added in a subsequent post. "That time has come, only worse than ever imagined."
Some Republicans appeared to attribute the attack to the border crisis and took use of the occasion to advance the GOP's broader narrative that a weak border compromises national security.
According to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., congressional Republicans had been "ringing the alarms" about "the idea that dangerous people were coming here in droves and setting up potentially terrorist cells around the country." Johnson also attempted to paint the attack as a border security failure.
In response to pictures of the deceased suspect posted on X Wednesday, Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., said that the country's immigration system, the "open border," and Congress's inaction on the matter "have created the perfect storm to endanger Americans."
"We must secure the border & guarantee our local enforcement is empowered to enforce the law and protect the American people from these cowards!" He posted on X.
Less than two out of every 10,000 migrants who attempted to cross the border in fiscal year 2024—roughly 0.014% of all migrants—were on the terrorist watchlist, according to an earlier report this year. Just over 1,700 people have attempted to cross under the Biden presidency. It was 1,400 under the Trump administration.
On Thursday, a Trump spokesman defended the president-elect's comments about the attack in New Orleans. In a statement, Trump's communications director Steven Cheung stated,
"President Trump rightfully highlighted that criminals crossing the border have committed some of the most heinous crimes this country has witnessed in its history." "It is also true that those who seek to incite hatred and violence have been infected by radical Islamic terrorism and its perverted ideology, which have infiltrated our nation."
