DHS’s Cuccinelli Faces Backlash Over Deleted Tweet About Suspect In Hanukkah Stabbing – By Bobby Allyn (NPR) / Dec 31 2019
A top Trump administration official has been criticized for saying on Monday that the man charged with stabbing five people at a Hanukkah celebration in New York was the son of an “illegal alien” and came from a family that lacked “American values.”
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, made the comments in a now-deleted tweet about suspect Grafton Thomas.
“The attacker is the US Citizen son of an illegal alien who got amnesty under the 1986 amnesty law for illegal immigrants. Apparently, American values did not take hold among this entire family, at least this one violent, and apparently bigoted, son,” wrote Cuccinelli, referring to the measure signed into law by President Ronald Reagan extending legal status to certain unauthorized immigrants.
Critics questioned the relevance of impugning Thomas’ entire family over his alleged crimes and wondered how the immigration status of Thomas’ father was relevant to the violent acts that prosecutors accuse the son of committing.
David Lapan, former Department of Homeland Security spokesman in the Trump administration, said Cuccinelli was “exploiting a tragedy to drive an anti-immigrant message, creating more division at a time when more togetherness, understanding and healing is needed.”
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/31/792721158/dhss-cuccinelli-faces-backlash-over-deleted-tweet-about-suspect-in-hanukkah-stab
