Sen. Chuck Schumer’s long record of enthusiastic support for his diversity visa program is making it difficult for him to escape partial blame for the October 31 truck attack by a diversity-visa recipient who killed eight cyclists in Manhattan.

On May 24, 2006, for example, Schumer gave a floor speech in the Senate celebrating the diversity visa program:

This is an excellent program. Nobody has said it has done a bad job. It is small. There are only about 50,000 visas a year. It is really based on the idea of new seed … So I plead with my colleagues, keep the diversity visa program … As I ride my bike around New York City on the weekends, I see what immigrants do for America. This program has dramatically helped. Neighborhoods such as Woodlawn and Greenpoint have been revitalized by new Irish and Polish immigrants. Neighborhoods such as East Flatbush and Harlem have been revitalized by West African immigrants. We don’t have to stop this program.

Schumer ally GOP Rep. Jeff Flake tweeted a defense of Schumer and his diversity visa, one day after a Muslim lottery winner allegedly killed eight American cyclists in New York:

Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there https://t.co/QQFJzPyRzC — Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 1, 2017

Both Flake and Schumer were members of the 2013 “Gang of Eight” which drafted a huge immigration-expansion bill. The 2013 bill effectively replaced the annual inflow of 50,000 diversity immigrants by adding new routes for an extra 2 million legal immigrants per year. That huge increase would have boosted the expected number of legal immigrants up to 30 million during the subsequent decade.

Schumer also tried to change the subject;

Pres Trump, instead of politicizing & dividing America which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should bring us together. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 1, 2017

Always believed & cont. to believe that immigration is good for America. Pres Trump, instead of politicizing & dividing America, 1/3 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 1, 2017

which he always seems to do at times of natl tragedy, should focus on anti-terrorism funding which he proposed cutting in his budget. 2/3 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 1, 2017

Schumer defended his diversity program in a May 2006 floor speech as the Senate tried to advance a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill sought by President George W. Bush.

Schumer’s core claim was that the federal government should not choose to award green cards to high-skill people instead of low-skill people, but should award visas to both. He said:

I think America should admit many more of those people but not at the expense of this small, successful program that guarantees that other countries, such as the Irelands, the Polands, and the Nigerias that are unable to have immigrants come in for family reasons, can get people to come into this country. So why can’t we have both?

Seven years later, Schumer followed the same “both” strategy when he was one of the eight authors of the 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill. That bill ended the diversity visa program but created many new routes for many more migrants to enter the United States.

The 2013 bill would have tripled the inflow of legal immigrants over the following 10 years, from roughly 10 million up to roughly 30 million, said Jessica Vaughan, policy director at the Center for Immigration Studies. She continued:

They nominally killed the visa lottery, but replaced it multiple times over in other forms, in other parts of that bill. For example, by creating new visas for countries with which we have trade agreements, new programs for guest-workers, by increasing the level of immigration over by double or triple the level of immigration and guest-workers overall. Rather than a lottery, they had a massive expansion of immigration across the board … they did away with the random selection [lottery] process and offered admission to almost all without a lottery.

For example, the bill added two new “merit-based” categories for 250,000 additional immigrants. The “Tier 1” program was described as a skills-based program because it offered visas to people who accumulated points for various attributes. Points were given for education — but also for people who could speak English, serve as babysitters or were from countries served by the Diversity Visa. For example, the program offered points to:

(G) English language.–An alien who received a score of 80 or more on the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or an equivalent score on a similar test, as determined by the Secretary, shall be allocated 10 points …

(J) Country of origin.–An alien who is a national of a country of which fewer than 50,000 nationals were lawfully admitted to permanent residence in the United States in the previous 5 years shall be allocated 5 points …

(C) Caregiver.–An alien who is or has been a primary caregiver shall be allocated 10 points.

The vast expansion was accompanied by a sharp reduction in immigration enforcement measures, she said. “They put conditions on the border patrol, made it more difficult to remove criminals, and made it hard for ICE to carry out deportations,” he said.

The extra inflow of blue-collar workers and white-collar professionals would have reduced Americans’ per-capita income and rewarded investors and Wall Street, said a June 2013 report by the Congressional Budget Office.

Amid strong public opposition, the 2013 bill was blocked by House Speaker John Boehner. The public opposition also helped flip nine Democratic seats in the Senate to the GOP in the November 2014 elections, and also put Donald Trump on his path to the White House in 2016.

The 2014 loss of nine seats demoted Schumer to Minority Leader, and sharply reduced his ability to block Donald Trump’s anti-amnesty administration in 2017.

In 2006, Schumer used the Senate floor to describe his support for the diversity program: