Donald Trump on Monday renewed calls for domestic surveillance of mosques in the U.S. after Islamic militants claimed credit for last week’s attacks in Paris.
{mosads}”You’re going to have to watch and study the mosques, because a lot of talk is going on at the mosques,” the GOP presidential candidate said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“And from what I heard, in the old days — meaning a while ago — we had great surveillance going on in and around mosques in New York City,” Trump added.
“I’m not sure it’s a fact, but I heard that under the old regime we had tremendous surveillance going on in and around the mosques of New York City,” Trump continued.
He also suggested that he would consider shutting down some mosques in the U.S. in order to defeat ISIS, reiterating a point he made during an interview last month on Fox Business.
“I would hate to do it, but it’s something that you’re going to have to strongly consider because some of the ideas and some of the hatred, the absolute hatred, is coming from these areas,” Trump said.
Other Republican presidential candidates, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called for a tougher military response to defeat the terrorist group after the Paris attacks, which left 129 dead.