Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) broke with his Republican presidential rival Donald Trump over the idea of creating a federal database to monitor Muslims living in the United States.
“I’m a big fan of Donald Trump’s, but I’m not a fan of government registries for American citizens,” Cruz told Bloomberg Politics during a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Texas Senator cited religious freedom to explain his opposition to the policy.
“The First Amendment protects religious liberty,” he told Bloomberg.
Both presidential candidates have made headlines this week for their comments about Syrian refugees and Muslims living in the U.S.
Cruz has repeatedly called for a religious test to determine which Syrian refugees should be accepted into the U.S., explicitly saying Muslims should be denied entry.
“There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump has offered a confusing procession of statements over whether he would require American Muslims to be registered in a database. After saying he wouldn’t rule out such a program on Thursday morning, the Republican frontrunner doubled down that evening in an NBC interview, saying he would “certainly implement” this kind of database as president.
Trump later distanced himself from the idea on Twitter, pointing out that his initial comments were made in response to a reporter specifically asking if he would condone registering Muslims or issuing them special identification cards that specified their religion.
I didn’t suggest a database-a reporter did. We must defeat Islamic terrorism & have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2015
