Trump says U.S. should consider profiling Muslims
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, shouts to Secret Service agents that supporter Diana Brest, right, had been waiting in line since 2 a.m. to see the candidate speak at a rally Saturday in Phoenix.
WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump suggested today that the United States should “seriously” consider profiling Muslims inside the country as a terrorism-fighting tool, the latest example of the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting increasingly backing positions that could single out a group based on their religion.
“We really have to look at profiling,” Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” ”It’s not the worst thing to do.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee added that he “hate(s) the concept of profiling, but we have to use common sense” over “political correctness.”
Trump’s increasing embrace of policies that could isolate Muslims in America is extraordinary for a candidate assured of his party’s presidential nomination. The proposals have been roundly dismissed and criticized by many Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Civil libertarians, Muslims and others also have strongly disagreed, arguing that profiling is unconstitutional and constitutes unlawful discrimination based on race, religion and other factors.
Law enforcement should remain allied with groups that might have helpful information, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an interview that aired Sunday.
“It is very important for to us maintain our contacts within the Muslim community, because, often, individuals, if they’re from that community and they’re being radicalized, their friends and family members will see it first. They will see activity first. And we want that information to come to us,” Lynch said on CNN’s “State of Union.”
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Trump’s statements are consistent with his other, long-expressed views on how to stop terrorism in the United States, including a temporary ban on foreign Muslims from entering the country until the U.S. can figure out “what is going on.” But he’s intensified his approach since Omar Mateen carried out the worst mass shooting in modern American history on June 12 at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people were killed in the attack, which stoked a mix of fears about terrorism, guns and violence against gays.
Mateen’s motive isn’t clear, but a letter from the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said Mateen wrote on Facebook that “real Muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the West.” He also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, his ex-wife said he was mentally ill and his father suggested that gays had angered him.
Trump’s response to the tragedy was, in part, a pointed confrontation with Muslims, whom he singled out for knowing where terrorists are and not turning them into authorities. In the same speech, he also expanded his ban on Muslim immigration to include people from regions with a history of terrorism.
On Sunday, Trump also said the government should investigate mosques in the U.S. in much the same way the New York Police Department’s Demographics Unit spied on Muslims and mosques around the city with help from the CIA. The group assembled databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed, infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques and monitored sermons, The Associated Press reported in 2011.
Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the NYPD announced it had abandoned the program following lawsuits and complaints.
“You do (it) as they used to do in New York prior to this mayor dismantling” the program, Trump said Sunday.
Americans are strikingly divided over whether to single out Muslim communities as part of a plan to fight terrorism, according to an AP-GfK poll conducted March 31 through April 4.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they favor surveillance programs aimed at predominantly Muslim communities in the United States to obtain information about possible radicalization. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed opposed the practice.
18 responses to “Trump says U.S. should consider profiling Muslims”
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Profiling should be generally used for people who have a higher probability to do harm. Certain groups who have much higher crime rates or probability to blow themselves up should be scrutinized more than others ( for example the nonsense to bother little old ladies who border a plane..)
It would help if the TSA, FBI, and CIA were all connected.
I am not sure what will happen first if Trump is president, a race war or WW3.
Sure thing Allaha.
By your reasoning, the biggest group of people we should profile and keep data bases on would be white males, most particularly, white Christian males. They’re surely the biggest group of offenders in this nation, and have been for at least a couple of centuries.
Gonna be a long list, but hey! It’s politically incorrect, therefore a great idea, right?
And which particular organization, religious or otherwise, is represented by your assertion? Before you automatically respond “Christian”, could you also specify what guidelines within that subgroup they’re following?
Your comment shows your ignorance. The likeliness and percentage of violators in a group is what matters, not the size of the group.
Racist Trump is clueless on how stay ahead of the terrorists. The Orlando shooter was ALREADY on the FBI terrorist watch list so instead of just profiling all muslims; FBI, CIA and homelad security, etc need to work together and become more proactive to people they already identified, EVEN if like the Orlando Islamic terrorist, was a US citizen andhad a clean criminal record. Wiretaps, email logging, etc. done in secret would have been warranted for the terrorist in Orlando or San Bernadino. ThIs guy even made a trip to Saudi Arabia so BEHAVIOR and NOT religious profiling is what will be most successful. Unfortunately racist Trump cannot see beyond this and one of many reasons why he would make a terrible president.
When and if Trump becomes President he will do something about it you can be sure. Right now you should be directing your criticism to the present President.
Yah, you just wait ’til daddy comes home!
The statistic is a racist.
The statistic, huh? Well, at least you spelled it correctly.
The FBI said this week it is investigating the case but analysts say it’s obvious why ISIS chose to target the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
The area is home to America’s largest Somali refugee community and has been a hotbed of Islamic terrorist recruitment dating back to at least 2007. Since then more than 34 young Somalis have left Minnesota to join the ranks of foreign terror groups, including the Islamic State in Syria and al-Shabab in Somalia. Others have been convicted of sending material support to overseas terrorist organizations.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/somali-refugee-influx-continues-unabated/#YhD0I3PPAsq64J25.99
It is hard to see a candidate seriously when he promotes profiling. It’s easy for followers to jump on the bandwagon until they look closely at how this affects the rest of their constituents. What next? It is bad enough that many of our fellow black Americans are treated like second class citizens. Wait until profiling is promoted and see what happens to just this one problem that we have in our country. And from there profiling of other races deemed to be a threat to security.
Blacks are treated differently because their crime rate is higher than other races.
In 1996, Bill Clinton became the first US president to hold an Eid al-Fitr dinner at the White House to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month-long dawn-to-dusk fast. Eid al-Fitr includes six “Takbirs,” the raising of hands and shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” to declare that Allah, the moon god, is “Greater” (than the God of all other religions, including Christianity – see Halal Meat).
I don’t think people understand what’s going on here. Obama let a lot of people in country we know nothing about. It’s time to find out. Hillary supports Sharia law. There are a few precepts that are contrary to American beliefs. They believe their God is the only God. Non believers should be killed. And more.
Next step for trump is to round up all the muslims and put them in concentration camps.
There’s no paper work. We don’t know where some of them are except for the ones on welfare. They are living better than most of us. Recently, a group settles in Quebec. They quickly found the Canadian way of life and demanded pork free lunches in school. The Mayor told them what’s good for Canadians is good enough for them. And, if they don’t like it there are 57 under populated countries that will accept them. Another group threatened to walk out if the employer did not provide time for prayer. They pray quite often. The employer told them no. They walked out. The company hired new workers. They begged for their jobs back. Too late.
There are many “success” stories thanks to Obama and Hillary.