Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump told the CBS News program “Face the Nation” on Sunday (June 19) that America is “going to have to start thinking about” profiling for preventive security.
Trump’s remarks, in a phone interview, came in context of a discussion about the Orlando nightclub massacre by a radical Islamic terrorist last week.
“Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate the concept of profiling but we have to start using common sense and we have to use our heads,” he said. “It’s not the worst thing to do.”
Omar Mateen was a homegrown Muslim killer whose parents immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan in the 1980s. Two months prior to the rampage on the Pulse Nightclub that took the lives of 49 people and injured 53 others, he signed over his property to his sister for the sum of $10. Although his wife claimed she and their two children had no clue about his activities, evidence cited by media shows the two were in contact via text and Facebook just before and during his attack.
It’s not the first time a Muslim extremist has killed after being inspired and incited by the Da’esh (ISIS) terrorist organization over the internet.
Just a day later, a deputy police chief in a Paris suburb and his female partner were murdered at their home. Their 3-year-old son was spared because a police SWAT team charged the home and shot him dead. Police broke in, knowing the situation was critical — they were monitoring the musings of the terrorist as he wondered via live stream on Facebook ‘what he should do with the child.’
“They’re doing it in France,” Trump pointed out. “In fact, in some instances they’re closing down mosques. People don’t want to talk about it. People aren’t talking about it,” he said, underscoring the discomfort among most Democratic societies facing a terrorist threat. “But look at what they’re doing in France,” he continued. “They’re actually closing down mosques.”
Trump also called for members of the Muslim community to come forward and report suspicious activity.
“When you look at, when you look at people within the Muslim community and where people are living and they don’t report, and a good example of that would be San Berndardino,” he said. “I mean, they had bombs all over their apartment floor and people saw it and nobody reported them, and 14 people were killed, many injured,” he reminded.
The Orlando killer also showed many “red flags” before he attacked, Trump commented. “You look at his past – I mean, I’ve never seen a past quite like that. You look at his record in school, you look at a lot of other things. There were a lot of red flags. This was not a very good young man.”
Trump said he is working with the NRA (National Rifle Association) on a policy to ban those listed on the terror watch list from purchasing guns.
Although many media outlets have claimed Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The statement is taken out of context and is only a partial truth. In fact, Trump called for a suspension, not an outright ban, of Muslim immigration – with obvious exceptions to be made – until the government could plug the holes in the current screening process that allow entry of Muslim extremists such as those who carried out the San Bernadino terror attack a few months ago.
Media reports revealed the terrorists were given visas without their beliefs and values even being questioned by interviewers prior to receiving a visa.