After the attacks on the Zaventem airport and the Maelbeek metro in Brussels that killed at least 30 people and left much more injured, presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz responded in the only way they know how – by calling for the stripping of certain rights from the Muslim population.
First, Donald Trump appeared on the Today show, discussed with host Matt Lauer how he believes Salah Abdeslam, the man recently arrested for his connection to the Paris attacks, should be interrogated. Trump called for the legalization of torture, stating “If we change the laws or have the laws, waterboarding would be fine. If they could expand the laws I would do a lot more than waterboarding.”
Trump also echoed his previous stances, calling for the Mexican border to be closed.
Asked during his appearance on Fox and Friends about how he would have responded to the attacks if he were President, Trump responded saying “close up our borders…until we figure out what’s going on.”
The GOP frontrunner also called for all Muslims to be banned from entering the country:
“We have to be smart in the United States. We’re taking in people without real documentation. We don’t know where they are coming from, we don’t know where they’re from, who they are… they could be ISIS, they could be ISIS related.”
“This is just the beginning. It will get worse and worse because we are lax and foolish.” –@realDonaldTrumphttps://t.co/HWLIXN2D6A
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) March 22, 2016
Of course, Trump expressed his condolences on Twitter:
My heart & prayers go out to all of the victims of the terrible #Brussels tragedy. This madness must be stopped, and I will stop it.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2016
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has called for an end to “political correctness” that he believes is endangering Americans. Cruz wants to refuse all refugees, as well as “empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
Although maybe not quite as extreme as Trump, Cruz is still calling for an infringement of rights, with wanting all Muslim neighborhoods patrolled.
You can read his statement of the Brussels attacks below:
In the past, there have been several attempts at both mass surveillance of Muslims, which is a common response to terrorist attacks. Yet, previous attempts at intensive surveillance of Muslim neighborhoods by the NYPD failed to produce any viable leads. And a recent study has found that the largest source of tips about terrorist plots actually come from the Muslim American community.
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