After floating the idea of mosque closures, being open to a government database to track all Muslims and making false claims about Muslim-Americans celebrating the 9/11 attacks, Donald Trump is now calling for a sweeping ban on all Muslim immigration to the U.S. Trump proposed the immigration ban in a press statement today, claiming that Muslims harbor a “hatred” of America and of human life.
To back up this assertion, Trump cited an unscientific online poll from the Center for Security Policy, a radical group led by conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney, that the group claimed demonstrated anti-American views among American Muslims. Experts have dismissed the poll as significantly flawed and dishonest.
While Trump’s statement implies that he is interested in “preventing Muslim immigration,” his new plan may even bar tourism as it calls for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
His campaign manager Corey Lewandoski told the AP that Muslim tourists would also be barred from entering the country.
Trump’s GOP presidential rival Rand Paul made a similar suggestion on Glenn Beck’s program today, saying that “until we have a better handle on who is already here and whether the people here are obeying our laws, I’d just stop immigration from the Middle East.” Paul also called for increased scrutiny from European travelers because too many people who live in the continent are “against Western civilization.”
Read Trump’s statement here:
BREAKING: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States pic.twitter.com/FJxRSrVE92
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) December 7, 2015
