Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Photo: ANDREW LEYDEN / AFP
It took only a few hours for President Donald Trump to turn what he called "an act of evil, and an act of terror" into a full-blown argument for an even more intense crackdown on immigration.
His vow came as authorities held a man Trump described as an Afghan national over the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard reservists in Washington, DC. They were in the capital as part of Trump's controversial deployment of troops to bolster law enforcement.
"America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror, and at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission these service members were so nobly fulfilling," Trump said.
The president, speaking on video from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, pivoted quickly from paying tribute to the victims of the tragedy to blaming the Biden administration for bringing the alleged shooter to the United States after the withdrawal of American troops in 2021. He claimed the incident "underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation."
But he also used the moment to drive home his campaign against other migrants in politically charged remarks that went far beyond Afghanistan - at a moment when his administration is moving to reinterview some refugees admitted under President Joe Biden and revoking temporary protected status for those from several dangerous world hot spots.
Trump lashed out at Somali immigrants in Minnesota, despite there being no apparent connection with the DC shooting. He claimed they were "ripping off our country and ripping apart that once-great state." Trump described Somalia as a country that has "no laws, no water, no military, no nothing."
The full details of the incident in Washington are not yet known.
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