Trump calls for ‘complete shutdown’ on Muslims entering U.S.

The proposed ban would apply to immigrants and visitors alike, a sweeping prohibition affecting all adherents of Islam who want to come to the U.S.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called on Monday for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” an idea that prompted one of his rivals to call him “unhinged.”

The proposed ban would apply to immigrants and visitors alike, a sweeping prohibition affecting all adherents of Islam who want to come to the U.S. The idea also raised immediate questions about whether it could pass muster under constitutional protections of the free exercise of religion.

Mr. Trump’s campaign said in a statement that such a ban should stand “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” The statement added that the Republican front-runner’s proposal comes in response to a level of hatred among “large segments of the Muslim population” toward Americans.

“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” Mr. Trump said in the statement.

Mr. Trump’s campaign has been marked by a pattern of inflammatory statements and he kicked off his campaign with a speech in which he said some Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals. He recently drew criticism for re-tweeting an image of inaccurate statistics that vastly overrepresented the number of whites killed by blacks. But so far those and other errors of fact have not diminished his popularity among many Republican voters.

Since the Paris terrorist attacks, a number of Republican presidential contenders have proposed restrictions on Syrian refugees with several suggesting preference for Christians seeking asylum and tighter surveillance in the U.S.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest accused Mr. Trump of playing on people’s fears and trying to tap into “a darker side, a darker element” of American society.

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Source:Thehindu