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Donald Trump Draws Criticism After Saying There Should Be Surveillance Of Certain Mosques

By Christian Savoy
Published on: 04:19 PST, Nov 22, 2015

Donald Trump, the current GOP presidential front-runner, recently presented his idea of creating a database to monitor refugees entering the country from Syria, a proposal which generated much criticism this week. According to a report from CNN, the remarks come as the 69-year-old billionaire ratchets up his rhetoric about American Muslims.

“I want surveillance of certain mosques if that’s OK,” Trump was quoted as saying to the crowd at the rally in Birmingham, Alabama. “We’ve had it before and we’ll have it again. I want surveillance. I will absolutely take (a) database on the people coming in from Syria. If we can’t stop it — but we are going to if I win — they’re going back.”

Although Trump made it clear that he wants to “monitor” the Syrian refugees entering the country and “certain mosques,” he also said that the media has misinterpreted his comments. As Politico pointed out, Trump’s strong words at Saturday’s rally follow even stronger remarks he made last week when he said he would “strongly consider” closing mosques as part of a response to last Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks in Paris that killed over 130 people and left hundreds more wounded.

“The United States will have absolutely no choice but to close down some mosques where some bad things are happening,” Donald Trump said in a recent interview that aired on Fox News‘ Hannity.“Nobody wants to say this and nobody wants to shut down religious institutions or anything, but you know, you understand it. A lot of people understand it. We’re going to have no choice,” Trump added. “Some really bad things are happening and they’re happening fast, certainly a lot faster than our president understands because he doesn’t understand anything. He doesn’t get it. Refuses to even call it by its correct name.”

In a message posted today on his official Twitter account, Trump issued the following statement.

In two other posts, the tycoon thanked a columnist from the conservative website Breitbart News, and he also took a jab at a reporter for the Associated Press.

The controversy began with an interview Thursday from Yahoo News, in which Trump said that after threats from jihadist Islamic State (ISIS), he considers it necessary to “do things that have never been done before” to monitor the country’s Muslims, things that “are going to piss people off” and were “unthinkable a year ago.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s proposed plan has generated much criticism, including some from his opponent in the Republican primary, Jeb Bush, who considered his idea “absurd” and said the proposal is “manipulating the fears of the people.”

Ted Cruz, another Republican presidential candidate, also rejected the proposal, saying he is “a big fan of Donald Trump’s, but not a fan of government registries.” Senator John McCain, Republican presidential candidate in 2008, also spoke out on the issue, and he called the proposal “outrageous.”

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News]

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