Trump blames immigration policy for Boulder attack

President Donald Trump blamed an attack in Boulder, Colorado, that injured at least eight people who were demonstrating in support of the release of Israeli hostages on lax U.S. immigration laws. In a post on Truth Social, Trump seized on the attack’s implications for immigration policy after a Department of Homeland Security official wrote in a social media post Monday morning the suspect in the attack had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally. “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law,” Trump wrote. “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.” The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terror, with local authorities identifying the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman of Colorado Springs. Soliman, who was encountered on the scene, is in custody and has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to an FBI affidavit. According to the affidavit, Soliman said in an interview with federal and local law enforcement that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead” and that he had been planning the attack for a year. J. Bishop Grewell, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado, said in a press conference on Monday that when Soliman was interviewed about the attack, he told authorities, “he wanted them all to die. He had no regrets and he would go back and do it again.” “No one should ever be subjected to violence of any kind,” Grewell said. “But our laws recognize that such violence is particularly pernicious when somebody is targeted because of their race, their religion, or their national origin.” Many initial responses to the attack focused on its potential connection to antisemitism and the Israel-Hamas war, but top Trump administration officials quickly began a discussion about immigration policy. According to DHS, the suspect entered the country on a B2 non-immigrant visa in August 2022 — filing an asylum claim the following month — and was authorized to stay until February 2023 but never left. The B2 non-immigrant visa allows foreign nationals to temporarily enter the country for tourism, pleasure or medical treatment. 📣 Want more POLITICO? Download our mobile app to save stories, get notifications and more. In iOS or Android. “This individual, this terrorist was allowed into this country by the previous administration, was foolishly given a tourism visa, and then was illegally allowed to stay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday afternoon. “These individuals are going to be deported, and we’re not going to tolerate such violence in our country.” Eyewitness videos show a shirtless man holding what appear to be two Molotov cocktails and yelling “Free Palestine!” at a group of demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, and Israeli flags were seen on the ground after the attack. The Anti-Defamation League in a post on X described the demonstration as a “weekly meeting of Jewish community members to run/walk in support of the hostages kidnapped.” One of the organizers of the group had posted on social media raising awareness for the demonstration, saying that the group met in downtown Boulder every Sunday for a “weekly humanitarian walk.” FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted Sunday on X that the FBI was investigating a “targeted terror attack” in Boulder. “This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts,” Bongino posted. “We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wrote in a social media post that the National Counterterrorism Center is working with the FBI on the investigation. The attack comes more than a week after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot to death outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.