WASHINGTON: A ‘policy statement’ from Donald Trump clamouring “complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” has re-appeared on his website after temporary removal.
Trump rose to US presidency in shock election victory on November 9 and hours after the poll results, his statement against Muslim immigration — which he made during election campaigning — disappeared from his website for undisclosed reasons.
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” Trump said on his website on Dec. 7, 2015. ”
However, his statements removal didn’t also trigger deletion of his tweets on the same subject.
Shortly after issuing the Muslim ban statement, Trump also tweeted to endorse his call and declared it a policy statement.
Trump’s spokesman said what some observers took as a softening of Trump’s policies was due to a technical glitch.
“The website was temporarily redirecting all specific press release pages to the home page,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.
According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population.”
The Trump call against Muslims sparked a furious backlash from opponents and claims of racism and xenophobia.
He said: “Just put out a very important policy statement on the extraordinary influx of hatred & danger coming into our country. We must be vigilant!”
Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration: https://t.co/HCWU16z6SR pic.twitter.com/d1dhaIs0S7
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine,” Trump said in the statement. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
.@realDonaldTrump calls for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering” the U.S. after #SanBernadino. pic.twitter.com/opc01qTlvv
— Washington Week (@washingtonweek) December 7, 2015
On the campaign trail, the President-elect at one point appeared to alter the call, saying that the ban should be on immigration from countries with connections to terrorism and not Muslims specifically.
Trump, who has previously called for surveillance against mosques and said he was open to establishing a database for all Muslims living in the U.S., made his latest controversial call in a news release.
