WASHINGTON (AA & Agencies) — All Muslim immigration to the United States should be halted, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump said Monday.
The real estate mogul called for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
In a statement, he cited a Center for Security Policy poll he said indicated, “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad”.
There was previously a large chorus against allowing Syrian refugees entry to the United States with some Republican presidential hopefuls calling for a religious test to prevent Syrian Muslims from entering the country.
But Trump’s call goes one step further as it seeks to bar all Muslims, regardless of nationality, from entry.
“It is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension,” he said. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims (sic) of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
The call follows a mass shooting that killed 14 victims outside of Los Angles, which authorities are investigating as terrorism.
But his proposal was met with enthusiasm by many of his supporters, who showed their approval via social media as well as at his rally on Monday night, according to CNN.
“I think that we should definitely disallow any Muslims from coming in. Any of them. The reason is simple: we can’t identify what their attitude is,” said 75-year-old Charlie Marzka of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Moreover, the Muslim travel ban will likely do little to dent Trump’s own popularity among Republican primary voters. The billionaire businessman has dominated the GOP contest for months despite repeated controversies that would likely sink other White House hopefuls.
Other Republicans seeking their party’s nomination refuted Trump’s newest policy prescription.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called his fellow candidate “unhinged”, saying, ‘His ‘policy’ proposals are not serious”.
And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump’s comments are “ridiculous.”
Across the aisle, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, took to Twitter to voice his opinion. “The U.S. is a strong nation when we stand together. We are weak when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us. cc: @realDonaldTrump.”
Hillary Clinton, the main Democratic presidential hopeful, described Trump’s comments as “reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive.”
“You don’t get it,” she tweeted to Trump. “This makes us less safe.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said it was “extremely shocked” about Trump’s comments.
“It is reckless and simply un-American,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said.
“Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours.”
Trump’s campaign said some of the poll figures it cited were from the Center for Security Policy, which CAIR noted has been branded a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In New Jersey, director Ahmed Shedeed of the Islamic Center of Jersey City warned that Trump’s remarks were “giving the right to people to hurt us.”
“I’m asking him, I’m begging him. It has to stop, all these accusations,” he said after prayers at a mosque in the city, as he urged Trump and others to see Muslims as “part of the American mosaic.”
