NEWTON, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has voiced support for creating a mandatory database to track Muslims in the United States — the latest in an escalating series of responses following the deadly attacks in Paris.
"I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump told an NBC News reporter between campaign events Thursday in Newton, Iowa, according to video posted on MSNBC.com.
He said Muslims would be signed up at "different places," adding, "It's all about management."
Asked whether registering would be mandatory, Trump responded, "They have to be."
The latest comments come less than a week after the deadly attacks on a concert hall, sports stadium and restaurants in Paris that have elevated fears of attacks in in the U.S. and prompted calls for new restrictions on Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country.
While some of his rivals have been chastised by President Barack Obama for suggesting that Christian Syrian refugees be given preference over Muslims, Trump has gone further in his rhetoric, advocating new restrictions on civil liberties and enhanced surveillance activities, including inside mosques.
He said earlier this week that the country was "going to have no choice" but to close certain mosques because "really bad things are happening, and they're happening fast."
The first reference to the database idea came in an interview with Yahoo News published earlier Thursday in which the billionaire real estate mogul did not reject the idea of requiring Muslims to register in a database or giving them special identification cards noting their religion.
"We're going to have to look at a lot of things very closely," Trump told Yahoo News.
He also suggested he would consider warrantless searches, according to Yahoo, saying, "We're going to have to do things that we never did before."
Asked by reporters Thursday night to explain his Yahoo comments, Trump suggested his response had been misconstrued. "I never responded to that question," he said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement Thursday condemning Trump for what the group described as "Islamophobic and unconstitutional" comments targeting American Muslims and Syrian refugees.
They also criticized Trump rival Ben Carson, who on Thursday compared blocking potential terrorists posing as Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. to handling a rabid dog.
"If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighbourhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog," Carson told reporters at a campaign stops in Alabama. "It doesn't mean you hate all dogs, but you're putting your intellect into motion."
"By mainstreaming Islamophobic and unconstitutional policies, Donald Trump and Ben Carson are contributing to an already toxic environment that may be difficult to correct once their political ambitions have been satisfied," CAIR's Robert McCaw said in a statement.
Trump was in Iowa Thursday for a televised question-and-answer session hosted by WHO-TV at the Des Moines Area Community College. At a rally after answering questions, Trump took a few shots at his fellow candidates. He said Carson's campaign was in "freefall" and said Sen. Marco Rubio "never shows up to vote because he's campaigning."
Also Thursday evening, New Day for America, a super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich, announced plans to launch a $2.5 million ad campaign targeting Trump.
"There's a growing consensus that someone has to do something to stop Donald Trump," said Matt David, a spokesman for the group, who said the campaign would include television, radio, mail and digital ads in New Hampshire.
Trump responded to the news, which was first reported by Politico, by unloading a dozen rapid-fire tweets mocking Kasich's polling and debate performances and threatened to "sue him just for fun!" if the ads aren't truthful.
Kasich responded with his own flurry of tweets aimed at Trump.
TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS DECRY HIS CALL FOR REGISTERING US MUSLIMS; 'ABHORRENT,' SAYS BUSH
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential rivals rushed Friday to condemn Donald Trump's support for a government database to track Muslims in the United States, drawing a sharp distinction with the Republican front-runner on a proposal also deemed unconstitutional by legal experts.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the prospect of a registry "abhorrent." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said the idea was "unnecessary" and not something Americans would support. And Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump throughout the 2016 campaign, said, "I'm not a fan of government registries of American citizens."
"The First Amendment protects religious liberty, and I've spent the past several decades defending the religious liberty of every American," Cruz told reporters in Sioux City, Iowa.
The rebukes came after Trump voiced support for a mandatory database for Muslims in the U.S. while campaigning Thursday in Iowa. The real estate mogul was asked by an NBC News reporter about the prospect of a database and whether Muslims would be required to be registered. In a video posted by the network, Trump said, "They have to be."
Asked whether Muslims would have to register at mosques, Trump said: "Different places. You sign up at different places. But it's all about management."
In an interview on Fox News Channel Friday evening, Trump tried to clarify his position, saying, "I want a watch list for the Syrian refugees that Obama's going to let in if we don't stop him as Republicans."
He said he'd had trouble hearing the NBC reporter's questions. But he didn't disavow the idea of a general registry for Muslims living in the country or say decisively he wouldn't support it.
"I want to have watch lists. I want to have surveillance. I mean, we're not a bunch of babies," he said.
Trump has also voiced support for closing certain mosques as a way to contain the terror threat in the U.S.
His comments followed the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, elevating fears in the U.S. and prompting calls for new restrictions on refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.
The House passed legislation this week essentially barring Syrian and Iraqi refugees from the United States. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has slotted the bill for possible Senate consideration, though it's unclear whether the chamber could get enough votes to override a threatened veto by President Barack Obama.
The Republican candidates' unified criticism of Trump was striking. His rivals have vacillated in their handling of other inflammatory comments from him, wary of alienating his supporters while increasingly concerned that he's maintained his grip on the GOP race deep into the fall.
Civil liberties experts said a database for Muslims would be unconstitutional on several counts, while the libertarian Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro said the idea also violates basic privacy and liberty rights.
Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on religious liberty, said requiring Muslims to register appears to be a clear violation of the Constitution's protection of religious freedom.
"What the First Amendment does and what it should do is drive the government to use neutral criteria," Hamilton said. "You can use neutral criteria to identify terrorists. What it can't do is engage in one-religion bashing. That won't fly in any court."
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League in New York called Trump's proposal "deeply troubling and reminiscent of darker days in American history when others were singled out for scapegoating."
Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed Trump during a rally in Nashville Friday evening. "Mr. Trump has attacked Mexican immigrants, he's attacked women, and now he's attacking Muslim Americans," she said. "At some point you have to ask yourself, is that the kind of country we are?"
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called Trump's words "outrageous and bigoted."
Back on the GOP side, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said requiring people to register with the federal government because of their religion "strikes against all that we have believed in our nation's history." Kasich had faced criticism following the Paris shooting for saying he would set up an agency with a mandate to promote what he called "Judeo-Christian values" overseas to counter Islamist propaganda.
Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has challenged Trump's lead in the GOP primary, has also made eyebrow-raising statements about Muslims following the Paris attacks.
"If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighbourhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog," Carson said Thursday. "It doesn't mean you hate all dogs, but you're putting your intellect into motion."
Asked Friday about a registry for Muslims, Carson said the U.S. should have a database on "every foreigner who comes into this country," but he rejected the idea of tracking U.S. citizens based on their religion.
"One of the hallmarks of America is that we treat everybody the same," he said. "If we're just going to pick out a particular group of people based on their religion, based on their race, based on some other thing, that's setting a pretty dangerous precedent."
The first reference to a database came in a Trump interview with Yahoo News published Thursday. There, he did not reject the idea of requiring Muslims to register with the government or giving them special identification cards noting their religion.
"We're going to have to look at a lot of things very closely," Trump told Yahoo.
Trump was pressed on the database by NBC Thursday evening. Later that night, Trump told reporters he "never responded" to the questions from Yahoo and ignored follow-ups about his remarks to NBC.
