Yesterday, Oct. 31 2017, a terrorist attack occurred in Manhattan. A man drove a truck through a bike lane, killing eight pedestrians. The man, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, rented a home depot truck from nearby New Jersey and performed the attack yesterday afternoon.

During the attack, Sayfullo Saipov shouted “Allahu Akbar” while careening through the popular bike lane near West Houston Street. He eventually came to a halt, after hitting a school bus. Saipov preceded to get out of the vehicle and terrorize bystanders with a paintball and pellet gun intended to imitate real firearms. Saipov was finally stopped after a police officer shot him. Saipov was then taken into custody and sent to a hospital. Eight lives were claimed and 11 others were injured.

Saipov, immigrated from Uzbekistan using the Diversity Visa program. The program is used in countries with few immigrants here in the U.S.. The citizens of those countries who wish to immigrate, apply for a lottery system and are chosen at random. The program allows 50,000 visas per year. The requirements for such a visa are a high school education and at least two years of work experience in the last five years.

The horrible events of yesterday call some to question what the U.S. could have done differently in preventing the attack. Today, Donald Trump tweeted, “We are fighting hard for merit-based immigration, no more democrat lottery systems. We must get much tougher (and smarter).” President Trump also said he is calling for homeland security to more thoroughly vet potential immigrants. Time will tell if there will be changes to the Diversity Visa program or immigration in general, to potentially prevent future terror attacks.