Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Tuesday afternoon the ugly face of radical Islam screamed again “Allahu Akbar” in New York City claiming eight innocent lives and injuring more than a dozen.

Police said the male suspect rented a truck in New Jersey and 65 minutes later plowed down pedestrians and cyclists in the city’s west side Tribeca neighborhood only a few blocks from the World Trade Center. This attack was the worst in the Big Apple since Sept. 11, 2001.

Suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was yelling “Allahu Akbar”— a terrorist battle cry meaning “God is great” — and holding a paintball gun when he was shot in the leg by a New York City policeman and taken to a hospital for treatment. On Wednesday the suspect appeared in court and was charged with eight counts of capital murder eligible for the death penalty.

Saipov entered the U.S. in 2010 from Uzbekistan under the Diversity Visa Lottery program then he obtained a Green Card and he was living in the U.S. legally, according to news reports.

In the aftermath of this horrific terrorist attack, this Diversity Visa Lottery is now being looked at as some form of Russian roulette inflicted upon America with terrorists using the program to infiltrate American society all the while planning in secret to carry out terrorist attacks. Calls for the program’s immediate demise are getting stronger by the minute. This lottery gives out 50,000 visas every year to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries including those with known terrorist problems – such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Trinidad, Tobago, Venezuela, Yemen and Uzbekistan, according to Real Clear Politics.

Since August President Donald Trump has been calling for an end of the Diversity Visa Lottery program along with other pro-American immigration reformers. More than 2-million immigrants have entered the USA using this visa lottery since its inception in 1990. Last February Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced legislation entitled the RAISE Act that would eliminate the lottery. This legislation has not yet been voted on in the U.S. Congress.

“The diversity lottery serves no discernable humanitarian or economic interest,” said Cotton in an interview with conservative Breitbart News. “It is a policy that has far outlived its usefulness and it really doesn’t even serve diversity since Europe is one of the primary users of it … and it’s time to eliminate the diversity lottery.”

On Wednesday, President Trump wasted no time blasting the visa lottery and again calling for it to end which has started a Twitter war with the U.S. Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program’ a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based,” Trump tweeted. “We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter) … We will stop this craziness.”

Of course the Democrat’s leader came right back at President Trump with a typical response.

“I guess it’s not too soon to politicize a tragedy,” Schumer tweeted. In a press release Schumer continued with, “I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America. President Trump, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution – anti-terrorism funding – which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget.”

In 1990 Schumer was among the original sponsors of the Diversity Visa Lottery immigration program.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on national TV after the attack, “There is no doubt we have to be smarter and have more intelligence … but there is also no doubt that it’s not the time to play politics.”

Once again a terrorist has used America’s immigration policy to attack within the borders of the USA. Criminals of all kinds, including radical Islamic terrorists, always look for the weak link — that vulnerability to take advantage of for money or political gain. This Diversity Visa Lottery is a hole in the dike meant to protect national security, but instead it’s being abused and used against Americans. It’s time to plug that hole in the dike. Records show more than 2,000 residents of Uzbekistan have already immigrated to the USA through this visa lottery.

New York City police officials on Wednesday announced to residents on national TV they would see a dramatic increase of “heavy weapons teams” throughout the city but not to be alarmed. Oh really?

These eight innocent lives taken in New York City – including children — are living proof that radical Islam is deadly serious.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.