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Donald Trump Broadens Proposal to Ban Muslim Immigrants
| Wall Street Journal | - |
MANCHESTER,
N.H.—Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday stood in
solidarity with the “LGBT community,” a day after at least 49 people
were gunned down at a gay Orlando nightclub, while broadening his
controversial proposal to ...
Donald Trump Broadens Proposal to Ban Muslim Immigrants
GOP candidate says he will suspend immigration from areas with proven history of terrorism against U.S.
Donald Trump again proposed to
bar Muslims immigrants from entering the U.S., in a speech responding to
the terrorist shootings in Orlando. Photo: AP
Mr. Trump incited a backlash from the political establishment on both the left and right when he proposed barring Muslim immigrants in December, but on Monday he extended his plan to include any county with a history of terrorism.
“The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here,” Mr. Trump said. He added later, “When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the U.S., Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats.”
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Mr. Trump, who has been widely accused of stoking ethnic and racial divisions throughout his campaign, cast his proposal to bar Muslim immigrants as an inclusive, all-American effort to protect women and people targeted for their sexual orientation.
“A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation. It’s an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity.”
Guided by a teleprompter during his 33-minute speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., a frequent destination for presidential candidates, Mr. Trump suggested President Barack Obama was somehow complicit in the attacks without offering any evidence. “There’s something going on,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News Monday morning. “He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands.”
However, Mr. Trump blamed the attack squarely on President Obama, saying he leads a dysfunctional immigration system and counterterrorism effort. Mr. Trump said the intelligence community is “held back by our president,” and added, “Obama is not letting them do their job.” He also warned that terrorist attacks would increase during Mr. Obama’s administration.
ENLARGE
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke about immigration at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on Monday.
Photo:
brian snyder/Reuters
Mr. Trump told Fox News radio in May, “It’s a temporary ban, it hasn’t been called for yet, nobody’s done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what’s going on.” A top foreign-policy adviser to Mr. Trump, Walid Phares, also hit a cautious note in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, saying the ban would have to be carefully worked out with Congress and federal agencies.
Exit polls showed large majorities of Republican primary voters and caucus goers back a temporary ban, from 63% in Virginia to 78% in Alabama. In December, a national Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey found 57% of Americans opposed such a ban, while nearly 40% of Republicans backed the idea.
Mr. Trump noted at the start of his speech that he was postponing a planned address on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and “how bad a president she would be.” But while Mr. Trump mostly refrained from personal attacks on Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, he unleashed sharp criticism of her immigration and gun policies.
Mrs. Clinton has called for a ban on assault weapons, which Mr. Trump supported years ago, before he ran for president.
“She wants to take away Americans guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us,” he said.
