Trump border czar: New Orleans, Las Vegas attackers ‘both on a suicide mission’
President-elect Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the New Year’s Day attackers in both New Orleans and Las Vegas were on “a suicide mission.”
“I think both these incidents, Las Vegas and New Orleans … they’re both going to be U.S. citizens, they’re both going to have recent foreign travel, they both were on a suicide mission, neither one of them thought they were going home,” Homan said Wednesday on Fox News.
Early Wednesday, a man plowed a pickup truck into a crowd on New Orleans’s Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring many more.
The suspect behind that attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in a shootout with police. Jabbar previously served in the U.S. Army.
It’s being investigated as a terror attack, as he had explosives and an ISIS flag with him.
In Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel, killing one person and injuring seven others.
The man who died in the explosion is believed to be an active duty U.S. Army solider.
While investigations are ongoing, President Biden said Jabbar shared videos where he threatened to kill his family and said he was interested in ISIS.
Though not much is known about the Las Vegas suspect, Homan argued he, too, will have ISIS ties.
Homan criticized the Biden administration for its southern border and immigration policy, though both men identified so far were known to be U.S. citizens.
He argued that attackers have been “emboldened” by the Biden administration.
“You can’t have national security if you don’t have border security,” he said. “I don’t understand why they don’t get that.’
Homan, who previously served as director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be tasked with implementing some of Trump’s wide immigration plan.
Trump also pointed to the current situation at the southern border for the attacks, railing against Biden for his immigration policies.