In an interview this week with Yahoo News, Republican presidential candidate (and polled front-runner) Donald Trump suggested that Muslims in the United States carry special identification showing their faith. His plan also includes increased surveillance and warrantless searches of Muslims, stating: “Certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. We’re going to have to do things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”
When Trump was asked about requiring Muslins to be registered in a database or requiring them to carry some special form of identification, he responded: “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. Some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule.”
Identification of a specific religious group has been conducted before — in Nazi Germany. During that time, Jews were required to wear a yellow badge with the Star of David. This practice lead to the persecution of millions.
Trump’s new ideas aren’t his first to target Muslims. In a previous interview he told Fox Business that he wanted to shut down Mosques in America — a sentiment that has gained the support 27 percent of Republican primary voters.
At a rally in Knoxville, Tennessee this week, Trump stated he was going to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS. This statement received a round of applause.
Trump repeated his feelings on Muslims being required to register in a database a few days after the Yahoo interview when being questioned by an NBC reporter. When asked about the forced registration he stated: “I would certainly implement that — absolutely.”
Interestingly, Trump is not open to creating a database of gun sales, on the grounds that “lawful gun owners will have their privacy invaded and will place information in the hands of government officials that could be easily abused.”
You can see the video of Trump discussing the databases below:
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