The decision was made by local, not national government. I would have wanted to be in charge of security for his visit, and apparently the NYPD didn't want to, either.

I also heard that the place he wanted to visit is not open to the public now anyway, and I get the distinct impression his even expressing a wish to visit it was done for the ensuing hullabaloo it would cause - and which the media and the American public has played right into, and was not genuine in the first place.