To keep the country safe, Donald Trump said Monday he would implement “extreme vetting” protocols to keep would-be terrorists out of the country, which would involve an ideological test to make sure the United States is only allowing in immigrants who “share our values.”
Trump’s proposed vetting process, which he unveiled at a campaign event at Ohio’s Youngstown State University, would also mean the country would temporarily ban immigrants from “some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world” and those with “a history of exporting terrorism.” He said he would only name those countries if elected.
Trump did not mention his earlier blanket proposal to bar all foreign-born Muslims from entry, a plan that remains on his official website, and offered scant details about what “extreme vetting” would involve. But the GOP nominee did say officials would seek to weed out those who believe that Sharia law “should supplant American law,” those who do not believe in the U.S. Constitution and those “who support bigotry and hatred.”
“Only those who we expect to flourish and embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas,” he said. “We will reject bigotry and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.”
The businessman also favorably invoked Cold War policy, both in calling for an ideological test and explicitly naming “radical Islam” as the ideology the U.S. seeks to defeat.
Trump also said he would put an end to nation-building as a cornerstone of American foreign policy, saying all actions would be focused on the singular goal of defeating Islamic extremists. In that battle, Trump said any country with that shared goal would be considered an American ally—including Russia, a country he said also has “too much at stake” in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.
“We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognize our enemies,” the GOP nominee said, almost exactly echoing a quote from his senior policy advisor in a story previewing the speech.
Rooting out extremists’ networks at home and abroad would also be a key priority, Trump said, promising, “We will be tough, and we will be even extreme.”
If elected, one of his first actions would be to create a “commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will hopefully work with us,” he said.
Trump said the body would work to identify the “warning signs of radicalization” to root out extremists, a proposal similar to ally New Gingrich’s call in June to bring back the controversial Un-American Activities Committee that investigated citizens suspected of helping the Nazis.
The GOP nominee also blasted his opponent, Hillary Clinton, for her plan to increase the number of Syrian refugees granted asylum in the U.S. He said the former secretary of state “wants to be American’s Angela Merkel” and called Germany’s accepting refugees a “disaster.”
This post has been updated.
