The suspect in Monday's terror attack in New York City came to the United States via chain migration, a point the White House is using to push for stronger immigration laws.
Akayed Ullah, 27, was transporting a homemade bomb in a pedestrian tunnel near the Port Authority bus terminal when the bomb detonated, injuring him and three others. CBS News confirmed via the Department of Homeland Security that Ullah arrived in the U.S. in 2011 through "extended family chain migration."
"The president's policy has called for an end to chain migration. If that had been in place, that would have prevented this individual from coming to the United States," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Monday afternoon.
"The president is going to aggressively continue to push for responsible immigration reform, and ending chain migration will certainly be a part of that process."
America's chain migration policy allows people who have migrated to the U.S. to sponsor other family members to come here as well. Those subsequent immigrants can also sponsor family members.
President Donald Trump tweeted last month that he would like to see chain migration end:
On Monday, Sanders said lawmakers need to work together to come up with reforms to the immigration system that would make America and its people safer.
"This attack underscores the need for Congress to work with the president on immigration reforms that enhance our national security and public safety," she said. "We must protect our borders, we must ensure that individuals entering our country are not coming to do harm to people, and we must move to a merit-based system of immigration."
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