President Donald Trump said he plans to end a diversity visa lottery program that he said the Uzbek immigrant suspected of killing eight people in New York City used to get into the United States.
"Today we mourn the horrifying terrorist attack in New York City, just blocks away from the site of the World Trade Centre," Trump said on Thursday during a meeting with his cabinet at the White House.
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Trump to end US green card lottery
Following an attack in New York City, Donald Trump calls for the termination of the visa program he says the perpetrator used to get into the US.
"I am today starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program. I'm going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program," he said.
He said the program "sounds nice, it's not nice, it's not good," adding that he would "certainly" consider sending suspect Sayfullo Saipov to Guantanamo Bay.
The diversity lottery program, often referred to as the Green Card lottery, is commonly used by Australians to obtain residency and work status in the US.
The system makes 55,000 permanent resident cards available every year to applicants from "under-represented countries" who meet the basic requirements of having no criminal record and either completing high school or working in an industry identified as one with a demand for workers. Each year, a handful of countries not considered "under-represented" are exempt from the lottery.
Winners are selected randomly from an estimated 14 million applicants each year. Their families can accompany them to live, study and work in the US for ten years.
"It's very simple. What we are demanding is merit-based immigration," Trump said on Thursday. "We want people who are going to help our country, people who are going to keep our country safe. We don't want lotteries where the wrong people are in the lotteries."
![During a cabinet meeting in Washington, Donald Trump vowed to scrap the diversity lottery visa program.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101205551im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/d/2/y/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzd2yf.png/1509568077758.jpg)
He also said he doesn't want "chain migration, where somebody like him will ultimately be allowed to bring in many, many members of his family".
Saipov, 29, rented a ute from a Home Depot store in New Jersey before driving onto a bike path on Lower Manhattan, crashing into a school bus before jumping out with a pellet gun and paintball gun and shouting "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," authorities said.
![Sayfullo Saipov, who allegedly used a ute to mow down bike riders, entered the US on a green card, Trump said.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101205551im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/d/2/l/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzd2yf.png/1509568077758.jpg)
Near the truck was a handwritten note with a few lines of Arabic indicating allegiance to the Islamic State, law enforcement officials said.
Saipov came to the United States in 2010 and was a legal permanent resident. The New York Times reported that he came in on a green card however authorities have not confirmed this.
![Eight people were killed and 11 injured when the ute sped down a busy bike path in Lower Manhattan.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101205551im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/c/a/q/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzd2yf.png/1509568450679.jpg)
Trump tweeted hours after the attack, blaming it on New York democratic senator Chuck Schumer.
The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
Schumer responded by accusing Trump of politicising the attack, and added that the White House is also seeking to cut the federal counter-terrorism budget.
"I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America," he said. "President Trump, instead of politicising and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution - anti-terrorism funding - which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget."
On Thursday, New York officials said that Saipov had been on the peripheral radar of federal authorities after coming into contact with an Uzbek who was under investigation by terrorism investigators in New York.
New York deputy police commissioner John Miller said: "It appears that Mr Saipov had been planning this for a number of weeks.
"He did this in the name of ISIS and along with other items recovered at the scene were some notes that indicate that. He appears to have followed almost exactly the instructions that ISIS has put out on its social media channels to its followers."
He appeared to have "self-radicalised" in the US and recently started reading Islamic State propaganda.
An acquaintance described Saipov, an Uber driver, as an aggressive loner who became religious after he moved to the US.
"He became religious on the spur of the moment," Mirrakhmat Muminov, a truck driver and Uzbek community activist who lives in Stow, Ohio, told Reuters.
"He started studying religion," he said, adding that Saipov "couldn't get enough" of the religious freedoms enjoyed in the United States after living in the strict confines of Uzbekistan.
He painted a picture of a man who was struggling to make it in the United States, had few friends, and poor communication and English language skills.
"He was withdrawn, nervous, sometimes aggressive. Because of that he was lonely, he lived in his own world. He was not very popular," said Muminov, who last spoke to Saipov about two months ago.
with Reuters, New York Times