GOP senator: Trump’s Muslim ban comments a ‘huge mistake’

A top Senate Republican has admitted Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States is a “huge mistake” that would fuel terror recruitment in the United States.

{mosads}Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the move could damage vital alliances in the region.

“I think this sends the wrong message to people that have to be part of our partnership for a solution,” Burr said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” 

“Yes, it does serve as fuel [for recruitment].”

He argued that many Muslims have served as interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan and have lost their lives or been injured while working alongside U.S. troops.

Only three countries have participated in all five of the last coalition battles around the world, Burr said, one being the United Arab Emirates.

“How do you tell the Bahrani pilots that fly, the Saudi pilots that fly, the Emirati pilots you’re good enough to fight against ISIL but you’re not good enough to come to the United States?” Burr asked, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

But Burr said he is more concerned about the radicalization of those who are already in the United States, adding that Trump’s comments will ramp up those tensions.