Immigrants are a ‘vicious cancer from within’: Trump goes on offensive as Afghan-born is named in New York bomb hunt

Republican Donald Trump is warning of a spike in terror attacks after a bomb placed under a dumpster in Chelsea exploded over the weekend, and is placing blame for the attack squarely on immigrants he called a 'vicious' threat.

'They’re here. We’re letting tens of thousands of people flow into this country,' Trump said Monday morning.

'They’re bringing in many cases vicious cancer from within.

This is something that’s going to be so tough. And you know they stay together so nobody really knows who it is, what’s happening. They’re plotting. This has been going on for so long everybody knows it,' Trump said.

Trump spoke just as the media announced authorities were looking for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan in connection with the bombing.

Asked about the bombing, which governor Andrew Cuomo has said isn't linked to international terrorism although he said Monday may have a 'foreign connection,' the candidate placed the blame squarely on dangerous immigrants, as well as his rivals.

'Well it’s a mess and it’s a shame. We’re going to have to be very tough. I think maybe we’re going to be seeing a big change over the last couple of days,' Trump told 'Fox and Friends' in a call-in appearance.

'I think this is something that maybe will happen perhaps more and more all over the country,' Trump predicted.

'This is only going to get worse. This isn't going to get better,' he warned. 

Trump linked the bombing, which authorities continued to pursue with what ABC reported was a police raid in New Jersey Monday morning, with American weakness and with policies that allow migration from the Middle East.

'Yeah because we’ve been weak. Our country’s been week. We’re letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands,' Trump said.

'They can’t be properly vetted. There’s no way,' said Trump, who during his campaign has called for a temporary ban on Muslims but in a recent policy speech described a plan that would bar immigration from countries linked to terrorism until they could be properly vetted.