Former President Donald Trump on Monday blamed President Joe Biden's immigration policies for the shooting of two police officers by a migrant in New York City.
Immigration and border policy is set to be a central issue of the 2024 election, in which Biden and Trump, the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees respectively, are expected to face off in a 2020 election rematch in November.
Trump has sought to blame Biden's immigration polices on an influx in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, overwhelming resources in cities like New York. Republicans have accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to curb migration. Biden supporters, however, have noted that the president has taken action on the southern border, including requesting more funds to be directed toward border security and increasing the use of expedited removal in January 2023.
In the fiscal year 2023, there were about 2.48 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border, up from 1.73 million in 2021, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
In a Truth Social post on Monday afternoon, Trump slammed Biden's immigration policies after two police officers in Queens, New York, were shot by a migrant over the weekend.
"Last night, two brave NYPD officers doing their job were shot by a Monster Illegal Immigrant who came here illegally from Venezuela last year and was living in a tax-payer funded migrant shelter. Crooked Joe Biden has trafficked in the worst people from around the world, many with heinous criminal records, and unleashed them into our communities," the former president wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Biden's campaign and the New York Police Department for comment via email.
The officers were shot early Monday morning in Queens while pulling over a 19-year-old man who was reportedly riding a motorbike the wrong way down a one-way street, according to The New York Times. Both officers are expected to survive. The suspected shooter, who was also shot during the encounter, is also expected to survive.
New York-based news station WPIX reported that the suspected shooter crossed into the U.S. at Eagle Pass, Texas, in July 2023.
Biden's conservative critics have claimed immigration catalyzes violent crime, though studies have found lower crime rates among immigrants than U.S. citizens. A 2020 Department of Justice (DOJ) study titled, "Comparing Crime Rates Between Undocumented Immigrants, Legal Immigrants, and Native-born US Citizens in Texas" found that "undocumented immigrants had substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses."
Amid criticism of Biden's handling of the border, his supporters have argued external factors, such as political and economic instability in some Central American countries, drive migration more so than U.S. immigration policy.
Meanwhile, April 2024 delivered some good news to Biden's efforts to mitigate illegal immigration, as it was the first month of the fiscal 2024 that saw a lower number of encounters from 2023, according to CBP data.
Despite these efforts, immigration still remains a sticking point for Biden as he seeks to address concerns among more moderate swing voters while also appeasing the Democratic Party's progressive wing, which has also been critical of his border approach.
Polls have also found a majority of Americans disapprove of Biden's border policy.
A survey conducted by The Associated Press/NORC in March among 1,282 adults found that 68 percent of adults aged 18 and over across the U.S. disapprove of Biden's immigration policy, versus just 31 percent who approve. Even among Democratic voters only 56 percent believe the president has handled the issue well.
Similarly a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January found 45 percent of adult Americans view "the large number of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. at the border with Mexico" as a "crisis," with another 32 percent deeming it a "major problem." By contrast, only 17 percent view it as a "minor problem" and four percent as "not a problem."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
