Donald Trump wants all Muslims to be banned from entering the US(AFP Photo/Kena Betancur)
A senior White House aide on Monday branded Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States as “totally contrary to our values as Americans.”
“We have, in our Bill of Rights, respect for the freedom of religion,” one of President Barack Obama’s top foreign policy aides, Ben Rhodes, told CNN.
“The fact of the matter is ISIL wants to frame this as a war between the United States and Islam, and if we look like we’re applying religious tests to who comes into this country, we’re sending a message that essentially we’re embracing that frame and that is going to make it very difficult to partner with Muslim communities here in the United States and around the world to prevent the scourge of radicalization that we should be focused on.”
Earlier, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called on Monday for barring all Muslims from entering the United States.
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” a campaign press release said.
Trump, who has previously called for surveillance against mosques and said he was open to establishing a database for all Muslims living in the U.S., made his latest controversial call in a news release. His message comes in the wake of a deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, by suspected ISIS sympathizers and the day after President Barack Obama asked the country not to “turn against one another” out of fear.
Trump’s comments are likely to roil the Republican presidential race, forcing many of his opponents for the nomination to engage in a debate over whether there should be a religious test to enter America.
But his proposal was …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
