In a largely scripted and on-message foreign policy speech in Ohio Monday, the Republican nominee outlined his plan for an ideological test.
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Here’s what is known – and not known – about the plan.
Secondly, upon taking office, he would ask that the State Department and Department of Homeland Security provide him with a list of countries where adequate screening “cannot take place”.
“There are many such regions”, said Trump.
Trump repeated his pledge to “temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most risky and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism” and said he would stop processing visas from countries where “adequate screening can not take place. until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures”. The U.S. would stop issuing visas in any case where it can not perform adequate screenings. “Our country has enough problems”, he said.
He went a step further calling for the USA to be cautious when admitting refugees and immigrants from countries that have anti-Semitic and anti-gay views.
Call it the TITMUS paper – for Trump Ideological Test for Muslims. “The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today”.
His emphasis on “extreme vetting” of arrivals sparked immediate criticism from his main rival.
“I’m really keen for Donald Trump to come to London because Donald Trump, it appears to me, is under the impression that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam”, he said.
This is not the first time Trump has cited a past practice as the grounds for reintroducing certain reforms.
Trump recognized this political reality early on in his campaign for the party nomination for president.
Trump said he would screen out those who sympathize with terrorists as well as people who have a “hostile attitude” toward the USA or who believe Islamic law should supplant US law.
Mr Trump compared the threat to the U.S. to the Cold War, saying the United States was in an ideological conflict with radical Islam.
In addition to rooting out Islamic extremism, Trump said Americans must “promote the exceptional virtues of our own way of life”.
“The support networks for radical Islam in this country will be stripped out and removed one by one, viciously, if necessary”.
And then there are diversity visas, often referred to as the “green card lottery”, which each year admit a limited number of people from countries “with historically low rates of immigration” to the US.
“When I say ‘do our jobs, ‘ what I mean is we are going to have to continue to be engaged”, Obama said. “Foreign combatants will be tried in military commissions”. The experts pointed specifically to Trump’s lack of knowledge about the U.S. Constitution, laws, and institutions and that he has little understanding of America’s vital national interests, complex diplomatic challenges, and indispensable alliances. The call for a temporary suspension is much lighter than an all-out ban mentioned in the past.
Obama has held up Bush’s years-long commitment to setting up and securing a new government in Iraq after the initial invasion as a reason to avoid USA military intervention in countries like Syria.
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“Passing immigration reform gives Republicans an opportunity to gain the support of the remaining quarter” of Hispanic voters who are undecided, the polling memo said.
