Republicans Link Biden’s ‘Open Border’ to Attacks by US-Born Veterans

Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan, are linking the recent fatal New Orleans attack and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion—both carried out by U.S. citizens who served in the Army—to President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House and Johnson’s press team for comment via email on Thursday.

Why It Matters

The FBI said today that there was “no definitive link” between the New Orleans attack and the Cybertruck explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Law enforcement officers have made no statements connecting the attacks to immigration or border security.

Both suspects are U.S. citizens who have served at the same Army base in North Carolina, Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg. The suspect in the Nevada attack was an active-duty Army member. Their assignments at the base did not overlap, officials told the Associated Press.

What To Know

Following the attacks, Trump, who has repeatedly pledged to crackdown on immigration, initiate mass deportations, and enhance border security, posted on social media this morning: “With the Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe. That time has come, only worse than ever imagined.”

In a Wednesday post, Trump said: “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership. The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job.”

Many Republican lawmakers are echoing similar rhetoric and sentiment in interviews and in social media posts.

Two fatal attacks occurred on New Year’s Day, one in Louisiana and the other in Nevada. In a Thursday press conference, the FBI said, at this time, there was “no definitive link” between the two attacks.

Early Wednesday morning, around 3:15 a.m. local time, an individual identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar intentionally drove a pick-up truck into a crowd in New Orleans and then began shooting, killing 14 people and injuring about 30. He was pronounced dead at the scene after law enforcement returned fire, the FBI said in a Wednesday statement.

The FBI is investigating the New Year’s incident on Bourbon Street as an act of terrorism. Jabbar, 42, was a U.S. citizen from Texas who previously served in the U.S. Army. An ISIS flag was found in his truck, and he posted videos in support of the terrorist group.

Later that morning, in Las Vegas, Nevada a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside of the Trump Hotel lobby. The person inside, who officials believe was Matthew Livelsberger, was killed and seven other people were injured.

Both vehicles, a Ford pick-up truck in Louisiana, and the Telsa Cybertruck were rented from the Turo app, a car-sharing marketplace that offers alternatives to car rental companies.

“We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families,” a Turo spokesperson told Newsweek on Wednesday. “We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.”

In the hours following the attack in New Orleans, Fox News reported that the Ford truck crossed over to Eagle Pass, Texas from Mexico just two days ahead of the attack. The report was not confirmed and Fox News has since noted that the vehicle came over on November 16, not late-December. The outlet’s live blog also noted, “The identification of the driver who crossed the border does not appear to be the suspect, sources said.”

What People Are Saying

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Fox News Thursday morning regarding the New Orleans attack: “We here in the House and the Senate have repeatedly asked the DHS under the Biden Administration about the correlation— the obvious concern—about terrorism and the wide open border. The idea that dangerous people were coming here in droves and setting up potentially terrorist cells around the country.”

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, wrote in a letter to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on January 1 regarding the New Orleans attack: “For the last four years, the Biden Administration has made them [Americans] feel less safe. Public accountability must begin with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray…They must give a full account of this attack and any departmental failures related to the incident. For instance, news reports indicate that the truck involved in the attack may have recently crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at Immigration Council, posted on X on Thursday: “Also, EVEN IF the truck had come through a port of entry from Mexico, the driver would have been required to present a visa, passport, or valid travel document. That’s not an open border! So trying to associate it with migrants is just an act of complete and utter nonsense.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming border czar said on Fox News yesterday about the attacks: “This is just another danger this country faces because this country’s been lax on national security and the groups like this have been emboldened. I mean when you got protesters walking down the streets in New York City carrying terrorist flags chanting ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to United States’ and nothing’s being done about it, and when you have a border that was secure under President Trump and this administration unsecured it on purpose, it’s an open invitation for those around the world that hate this country.”

Republican Representative Dan Meuser posted on X Thursday morning: “The vacuum of leadership from the Biden Administration has led to instability around the world…this Administration’s weakness has created an environment, incubators, where terrorism thrives and where individuals—both abroad and domestically—become radicalized…The last four years, President Biden and Democrats have focused on DEI instead of IEDs.”

Elon Musk, CEO of Telsa, wrote on X on January 1: “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”

What Happens Next

The FBI said during a press conference on Thursday that they have received around 400 tips related to the incident. At the press conference the agency urged anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Years Eve or early New Years day, as well as anyone who knows Jabbar, to contact the FBI.

The agency is asking anyone with information that might assist is asked to contact the FBI’s New Orleans Bureau by calling (504) 816-3000 or by emailing tips@fbi.gov, or submitting photo and video footage online here.

The FBI emphasized during the press conference that it is still “very early” in the investigation and more details are to come.