President Donald Trump over the weekend seized on an apparent terrorist attack in France to promote his immigration policies while offering his condolences to French President Emmanuel Macron.
A man decapitated a schoolteacher in a suburb of Paris last Friday and was later shot dead by police. The victim was a teacher who recently showed controversial caricatures depicting the prophet Mohammed to his students.
The attack is being investigated by France's anti-terror prosecutor's office.
"We have to have borders. A nation without borders is not a nation," Trump said during a rally in Wisconsin.
"So, on behalf of the United States, I'd like to extend my sincere, really sincere condolences to a friend of mine, President Macron of France, where they just… had a vicious, vicious, Islamic terrorist attack, beheading an innocent teacher near Paris," the president continued.
"A horrible thing, and they've apprehended [I think] nine people, who knows — but we've been very, very strong on radical Islamic terrorism, and we do have a ban," he added.
"People said ‘oh, that's such a terrible thing', remember, when I put the ban on — and then we got sued, and we lost, lost, and then we won in the United States Supreme Court," Trump recalled, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
Trump has imposed a controversial travel ban, often referred to by critics as a "Muslim ban," on several Muslim majority countries, including Iran and Syria, through a series of executive orders. In February, the travel ban was expanded to include six additional countries, including Nigeria.
"France is having a hard time, and Macron's a great guy, and I just want to say, whatever we can do," Trump continued.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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