President Trump accused Democrats of “destroying” Charlotte, North Carolina, after an unauthorized immigrant allegedly carried out a stabbing Friday on the city’s light rail system, just months after another high-profile attack, this one fatal, took place on a city train against a Ukrainian refugee.
“Another stabbing by an Illegal Migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “What’s going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroying it, like everything else, piece by piece!!!”
The comments are in response to a Friday night incident, in which Oscar Solarzano, 33, is accused of being intoxicated and challenging a fellow passenger to a fight, then stabbing him with a knife.
Solarzano has been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and a string of other related offenses, and booked into Mecklenburg County jail,
His alleged victim, named in court documents as Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie, was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, the Mecklenburg EMS Agency told ABC News.
In court documents, a magistrate described Solarzano as an “illegal” who has been “deported previously.”
The documents allege the 33-year-old was “unintelligible and slurred words” before using a “large fixed blade knife” in the attack.
Solarzano, a Honduran national, has illegally entered the U.S. three times, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He was previously expelled in 2018, and apprehended again in 2021, DHS told The Independent. It is not known when he entered the U.S. again.
“[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] lodged a detainer to ensure this criminal illegal is not released back into North Carolina neighborhoods,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the county will honor the detainer since they have a history of not cooperating with ICE.”
Solarzano is due in court on Monday.
Republicans were quick to pin blame for the attack on local Democrats, echoing criticisms from earlier this year after the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska in August on the city’s light rail system, a case that attracted national attention and allegations from the GOP that Democratic crime policies were at fault for the incident.
“Oscar Solarzano was previously deported and then illegally entered our country AGAIN,” Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina wrote on X. “These are the folks NC’s pro-crime Democrats want to keep on the streets.”
Last month, the Trump administration surged immigration agents to Charlotte, one of the scores of Democrat-run cities where the White House has amped up immigration raids.
The administration framed the operation as a crackdown on violent criminals, though internal data obtained by CBS News suggests fewer than one-third of those arrested appeared to have prior criminal charges or convictions.
Crime has been declining substantially in Charlotte throughout the year, officials said in October, with homicides down 24 percent and aggravated assaults down 19 percent, according to third-quarter statistics.
After the Zarutska stabbing, leaders increased law enforcement patrols on the light rail system.
