Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is calling out America’s broken legal immigration system following two terrorist attacks by naturalized U.S. citizens from the Third World.
The moment came on Thursday when the Show Me State’s junior senator joined Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle to discuss the ongoing Democrat-led shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Schmitt blasted the Democrats’ open border policies and espoused support for the Trump administration’s closing of the U.S.-Mexico border and deportation of illegal aliens. He also notably took the time to address the need to reform the country’s legal immigration system.
“A lot of these people have come in legally. A lot of American workers have been displaced by foreign workers. A lot of American students have been displaced by these visa mills at universities and tax breaks that companies get after the fact,” Schmitt said. “So, we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we clearly have laws right now that need to be enforced.”
The comments came hours after two foreign-born U.S. citizens carried out separate terrorist attacks in Virginia and Michigan.
In Virginia, 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh — a former Army National Guardsman from Sierra Leone — reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” while open firing inside an Old Dominion University facility. Jalloh was previously convicted for supporting ISIS in 2017 but was released from custody by the Biden administration in 2024.
The now-deceased Islamic suspect was reportedly disarmed by a group of ROTC students. His attack, however, resulted in the death of Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ODU professor and the school’s ROTC program chair, who previously served overseas in the Middle East. Shah was awarded two bronze stars for his service.
In Michigan, Lebanese-born Ayman Mohamad Ghazali allegedly used a vehicle to attack the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield. According to Fox News, Ghazali entered the United States in May 2011 “on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen,” and later obtained U.S. citizenship in February 2016.
Ghazali was reportedly killed by members of the synagogue’s security team upon exiting his vehicle with a gun. There were no reported casualties as a result of the team’s heroism.
“We need to make sure the border remains closed. The deportations need to continue, regardless of the Democrat[s] whining about it. … And then also, we need to reform our legal immigration system,” Schmitt said.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
