The US Government has ordered security levels raised at all airports, bridges and mass transit systems, following this week’s deliberate mowing down of eight people by a terrorist in a truck on a cycle path close to New York’s West Street in Lower Manhattan.

 

The 29-year-old Uzbek armed national who claims to be a self-styled representative of the ISIS terrorist group also badly injured another 11 pedestrians before he was shot and apprehended by police.

 

The attacker who survived being shot, has since been named as Sayfullo Saipov and was formally charged yesterday with the deaths of eight people and injuring several others.

 

REIGNITING THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE…

US President Donald Trump has since vowed to further tighten US immigration entry policy for foreign nationals, including abolishing the ‘Diversary Visa Lottery Programme’, under which the individual was able to gain entry to the US.

 

[This scheme randomly awards 50,000 visas/green cards and permanent residency permits for individuals from specific countries each year. A bill has now been introduced to eliminate this concession-Ed].

 

 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo instantly condemned last Tuesday’s incident, extending the state’s sympathies to all of the victims, while instantly ordering security raised to a tighter level at all transport points, including New York’s three major airports.

 

In a statement, Cuomo said: “Out of an abundance of caution, we are stepping up security measures at high-profile locations and large public gatherings while the investigation continues.”

 

TRUMP SAYS TIME TO GET ‘TOUGHER’ AND ‘SMARTER’

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also condemned the attack as ‘cowardly’ and praised all of those ‘one million individuals’ who hours later refused to be intimidated by the attack, joining the New York Halloween Parade.

 

For his part, President Trump added: “Terrorists are constantly seeking to strike our nation, and it will require the unflinching devotion to our law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence professionals to keep America safe. We will take all necessary steps to protect our people and our communities, and to protect our nation as a whole.

 

“We have to get much tougher. We have to get much smarter. And we have to get much less politically correct. We’re so politically correct that we’re afraid to do anything. And that’s not only our country, that’s other countries too that are having very similar problems.”