Without evidence, Trump blames Biden 'open borders' for 'radical Islamic terrorism'

President-elect Donald Trump and a top adviser appeared to blame immigration for the New Year's Eve massacre in New Orleans, linking 'radical Islamic terrorism' to one of his top political priorities.

Federal investigators said the suspect in the New Orleans attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who killed 14 people and left dozens injured was a Texas-born U.S. citizen and Army veteran.

Police fatally shot Jabbar after he rammed a truck carrying an ISIS flag into a crowd of New Year's Eve revelers on Bourbon Street early Wednesday.

Deputy Assistant FBI Director Christopher Raia on Thursday said investigators believe Jabbar acted alone to execute a premeditated "act of terrorism" that was "100% inspired by ISIS," referring to the Islamic State terrorist organization.

More: 'He may have just went crazy': Family, friends open up about suspect in New Orleans attack

Trump turns to immigration

As of mid-Thursday, federal investigators hadn't drawn any links between the New Orleans terror suspect and the U.S.-Mexico border or immigration.

But in posts on his social network Truth Social in the wake of the attack, Trump linked the massacre to "criminals coming in" and drew links between "radical Islamic terrorism" and immigration.

Blaming what he called President Joe Biden's "open borders" policy, Trump said, "Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe."

More: 'An evil act': New Orleans driver believed to be a lone wolf, FBI says. Live updates

"That time has come only worse than ever imagined," he said.

The Trump transition team didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has frequently blamed immigration for a perceived increase in crime, amplifying heinous acts committed by immigrants and occasionally spreading false information tying immigrants to disorder, all to boost his signature campaign promise: cracking down on illegal immigration.

More: Biden administration carries out highest deportations in a decade

A mistaken news report

“It’s using tragedy and a serious problem to further his political agenda,” said Naureen Shah, an attorney at the ACLU. “He thinks vilifying immigrants is his blank check to cash, and in many ways he has been vindicated in his misuse of the facts.”

The immigration narrative got an early boost after FOX News, citing anonymous sources, erroneously reported Wednesday that the New Orleans suspect may have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

More: Trump, in Phoenix, predicts his mass deportations will surpass levels from the 1950s

Trump quickly blamed "the criminals coming in" before FOX corrected its reporting. The statement remained on Trump's Truth Social feed and on Trump transition Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s X account on Thursday.

“When I said that criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our own country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake New Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump said in the statement.

New Orleans killer declared his support for ISIS

Raia, of the FBI, said 42-year-old Jabbar drove from Houston, where he lived, to New Orleans on Tuesday, Dec. 31. Shortly before the attack, Jabbar posted five videos on an online platform "proclaiming his support for ISIS," Raia said.

The extremist group known as ISIS peaked as a fighting force overseas about a decade ago. It grew out of Al Qaeda elements who fought an insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq and later claimed it wanted to establish an Islamist caliphate across parts of the Middle East.

Trump's musings followed a post late Wednesday by aide Stephen Miller, his incoming deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security adviser, drawing connections between "Islamist terrorism" and immigration.

"Islamist terrorism is an import," Miller posted on X. "It is not 'homegrown.' It did not exist here before migration brought it here."

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which bills itself as the country's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, denounced the violence in New Orleans.

"We strongly denounce this crime, we stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans, we encourage anyone with relevant information to come forward immediately, and we pray for a full recovery of those impacted by this crime," the organization said in a statement.

Among the victims was Kareem Badawi, a Muslim American native of Baton Rouge and a student at the University of Alabama, CAIR said.

More: Heartbreaking losses: Here are the victims of the New Orleans truck attack

"No one should rush to use a horrific crime like the New Orleans attack to advance a political agenda," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR national deputy director.

There are about 3 million Muslims of all ages in the U.S., accounting for about 1% of the U.S. population, according to estimates by Pew Research.

A majority of Muslim adults – 58% – are immigrants, a population that expanded after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act reduced restrictions on immigration from Asia, Africa and other regions outside Europe.

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to "bring back the travel ban" that targeted Muslim-majority nations. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld a modified version of the ban, though Biden later ended the travel restrictions.

Joey Garrison and Kim Hjelmgaard contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After New Orleans, Trump blames 'Islamic terrorism' on 'open borders'