Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
Police identified the suspect in the terror attack in Austin, Texas, that left two innocent people dead and four others injured Saturday. His 2000s-era visa is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities embedded in America’s immigration system.
Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Senegal, opened fire outside an Austin, Texas, bar, before being fatally shot by police, according to authorities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the attack as a potential act of terrorism due to the suspect’s clothing, which had “Property of Allah” text and an Iranian flag design, a Quran found in his vehicle, and the ominous timing of his attack, just one day after U.S. military strikes on Iran.
Diagne’s path to citizenship, navigated through legal channels under previous administrations, exposes a system riddled with flaws that worsened under the Biden administration’s open-border policies. Americans are becoming more aware that the barbarians are already occupying our city, and they got here using our broken immigration system.
The Muslim immigrant who killed 3 people in Austin and wounded more than a dozen others was a LEGAL immigrant from Senegal. Ted Cruz thinks he should have been here, that his coming here was good for America.
No more of this insanity. We need a moratorium on ALL immigration. https://t.co/TtSyykp42u
— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) March 1, 2026
Diagne first entered the U.S. in March 2000 under a B-2 tourist visa during the Clinton administration, according to multiple reports. The non-immigrant visa, intended for short-term visits, allowed him to stay for up to six months, with possible extensions. Yet, Diagne allegedly overstayed, remaining in the country for years, enjoying a common loophole in a system that lacks robust enforcement mechanisms. During the George W. Bush administration in 2006, he adjusted his status to that of a lawful permanent resident based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, according to CNN and the New York Post. The family-based pathway enabled him to petition for residency through spousal sponsorship. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
Then, in 2013, under the Obama administration, Diagne was naturalized as a full U.S. citizen, complete with full voting and gun rights, according to multiple reports. This final step required him to demonstrate good moral character, pass English and civics tests, and clear a background check, including FBI fingerprints. On paper, it sounds rigorous. But Diagne’s history is littered with misdemeanors and arrests dating back to 2001, just one year after arriving in the U.S, according to multiple reports. He reportedly applied for asylum in 2016, after becoming a citizen, which is an odd move to say the least. Despite all of these apparent red flags, nothing derailed his path to citizenship.
Critics might argue that Diagne’s case is an outlier. He is merely a product of pre-2017 establishment policies. But this misses the broader point about how America’s legal immigration system is inherently flawed, prone to exploitation, and interconnected with the border chaos that exploded under then-President Joe Biden.
STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW GREAT “LEGAL” IMMIGRATION IS. IT’S KILLING US. LITERALLY.
(Pass my bill: HR6225, the PAUSE Act) pic.twitter.com/cA98RERH2g
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) March 1, 2026
While Diagne used legal pathways, the same vetting deficiencies that greenlit his citizenship have failed spectacularly at screening the surge of special interest aliens (SIAs) and terror watchlist individuals flooding in since 2021. Reporting from the Daily Caller exposes how Biden’s policies amplified risks, turning isolated legal vulnerabilities into a national security nightmare. If Diagne could navigate the system undetected, imagine the threats from those entering amid record-breaking border encounters.
In April 2022, the Daily Caller reported that border authorities had arrested 42 people on the terror watchlist under Biden, per Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data. By October 2022, that number shattered records with 98 encounters at the southern border. Many of these illegal immigrants hailed from high-risk nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen. A September 2023 report found that nearly 75,000 illegal migrants were flagged as potential national security risks by Biden’s DHS. In February 2024, the Daily Caller exclusively reported that Biden’s U.S. Border Patrol had released into the interior of our country more than 30,000 illegal immigrants flagged as security risks in just 15 months.
To make matters worse, thousands of illegal immigrants from classic SIA countries or countries with radical Islamist sympathies received or had their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) granted, renewed, or expanded under the Biden administration. This gives them freedom from deportation and the ability to apply to work in the U.S.
Americans are repeatedly told that anyone willing to make the treacherous journey to get into the U.S. is someone deserving of being here. They are just as American as those of us whose families fought in the American Revolution because they clearly love the U.S. enough to risk their lives to get into our gates. They are searching for a better life. And if you don’t agree with all of this, you are xenophobic.
Broke: “illegal immigration is bad, legal immigration is good.”
Woke: “Illegal and legal immigration is bad.”
Bespoke: “Total immigration moratorium, 100 million deportations, denaturalization, and remigration.”
— William Wolfe 🇺🇸 (@WilliamWolfe) March 2, 2026
The Austin attack isn’t isolated. In 2015, Tashfeen Malik entered on a legal visa before radicalizing and killing 14 in San Bernardino, California. Or the Boston Marathon bombers, who arrived as refugees. These cases prove legal pathways are no safer than Biden’s open borders. We have no other option than to halt legal immigration into the U.S completely. (ROOKE: Trump Assassination Plot Goes Unnoticed As Media Refuses To Look In Mirror)
Congress has no more excuses.
No more studies. No more hearings; we need an immediate, total moratorium on all new legal immigration. Until every loophole, every vetting failure, and every chain-migration provision is ripped out and replaced with iron-clad national-security-first rules, the bloodshed will continue. The next attack is probably already being planned by someone the system is currently processing, or it has already been approved. They live among us.
Follow Mary Rooke on X: @MaryRooke