Donald Trump on Monday proposed an ideological test for those seeking entrance into the U.S. as he warned that the threat of terrorist attacks from “immigrants and the children of immigrants” is on the rise.
Speaking in Youngstown, Ohio, in what his campaign billed a major foreign policy address, Trump proposed an “extreme vetting” system that he said would ensure that only those who are committed to America and its Constitution are allowed in.
“The Trump administration will establish clear principles governing all decisions made in regard to immigration, and we will be tough and we will be even extreme,” the GOP presidential nominee said.
“We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people,” he continued. “In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. Our country has enough problems, we don’t need more.”
Trump said his system would ensure that “sympathizers of terrorist groups” and “all people with hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles” would be denied entry.
“Those who do not believe in our Constitution or support bigotry or hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country,” Trump said. “Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas.”
Trump did not get into the details of the screening process.
Democrats mocked Trump over the proposed ideological test in the run-up to his speech, saying that the billionaire’s rhetoric towards Muslims and other minority groups is at odds with U.S. values and so he would be denied entry into the country.
Trump is seeking to stake his claim as the “law and order” candidate who will stamp out the threat of terror by strengthening U.S. border policy.
On Monday, he accused Clinton of putting the nation at risk by supporting an increase in foreign refugees seeking asylum in the U.S., and again reiterated his support for a temporary ban on those entering the country from dangerous parts of the world.
“I will ask the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screenings cannot take place,” Trump said. “There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures. The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening.”