Donald Trump calls for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants to US
US Republican
presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he would enact "extreme
vetting" of immigrants.
In a speech in Ohio,
the candidate outlined his plans to combat Islamic extremism, including a new
screening test for arrivals to the US.
Applicants will be
tested to determine if they share Western liberal values like LGBT and
religious tolerance.
Democratic rival
Hillary Clinton poured scorn on his plan, labelling it a "cynical
ploy".
"This so-called
'policy' cannot be taken seriously," said her spokesman.
"How can Trump
put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and
selected as his running mate the man [Mike Pence] who signed an anti-LGBT law
in Indiana?"
Under Mr Trump's plan,
citizens from countries with a history of terror will be banned but it is not
clear which nations.
In the speech, he did
not lay out his own military strategy for defeating the so-called Islamic
State.
Donald Trump: Clinton "lacks
the mental and physical stamina" to defeat so-called Islamic State
But he did repeat his claim he was opposed to the Iraq War
before it began, which
And he said that the
oil in Iraq should have been seized by the US government to prevent it from
becoming the property of IS.
In his speech, Mr
Trump promised to:
§
Ban immigration from countries where terrorism is widespread and
vetting is poor
§
Make alliances with all countries fighting against terrorism
§
Introduce an ideology test for new immigrants arriving to the US
§
Keep Guantanamo Bay prison open
§
Establish a presidential commission to investigate Islamic
terror
§
Work with Nato, despite previously calling it
"obsolete"
The billionaire
initially proposed a blanket ban on all Muslims but has changed it to one that
is based on an unspecified list of countries that export terror.
The latest proposal
includes creating an ideological test for immigrants entering the country, with
questions addressing how each applicant views American values such as religious
freedom, gender equality and gay rights.
"Those who do not
believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be
admitted for immigration into the country," he said.
Analysis - Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, Washington
It may have been vague
on the details of how IS will be defeated militarily, how extremists would be
stopped from accessing the internet or how immigrants that share American
values would be separated from those who do not, but this speech would have
gone down well with his supporters.
But simply by sticking
to a script and avoiding the off-the-cuff remarks that have landed him in
trouble in the past, Mr Trump may also have wooed some of those Republicans who
have been so desperate for him to show a more "presidential" way of
doing things.
Some European
diplomats in particular have expressed exasperation at the New York
businessman's foreign policy statements. But this election is not about them,
it's about crowds like the one in Ohio that loudly cheered every line of
Trumpist nativism.
Mr Trump said that the
test will not only expose terrorist sympathisers, but also will "screen
out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles".
He heavily criticised
his rival Hillary Clinton, saying that she lacks the "mental and physical
stamina" to defeat IS.
Fight to stop refugees from settling
in the American West
And he attacked her
plan to increase the rate of Syrian refugees arrivals, which he claimed would
cost $400bn (£315bn).
Mr Trump is still
facing a backlash for repeatedly describing Mr Obama and his Democratic rival
for the White House, Hillary Clinton, as "founders" of Islamic State.
Vice President Joe
Biden speaking at a campaign event with Hillary Clinton said that Mr Trump's
claim that Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton had "founded" IS proved his views
to be "dangerous" and "un-American", and that it had made
US soldiers in Iraq less safe already.
Recent polls show him
significantly trailing Hillary Clinton in key battleground state
Source: BBC News
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