Washington: Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has refused to budge from his stand on banning Muslims from entering the US and deporting illegal immigrants out of the country.
Trump has continued his controversial rhetoric in a series of interviews and speeches against Muslims.
He first proposed the idea in the wake of the horrific California shootings in December, which left 14 dead.
In an interview with CNN, Trump did not back away from his proposal to temporarily ban all foreign Muslims from entering the US. At the same time, he said he would work with Muslim countries in the fight against terrorism. But the onus for this is on those countries first, he argued.
Taking a rigid stand, Trump said he does not care if it hurts him. "I'm doing the right thing when I do this. And whether it's Muslim or whether it's something else, I mean, I have to do the right thing, and that's the way I've been guided," he told MSNBC in another interview.
"And I've been guided by common sense, by what's right. And you see what's happening. We have to be careful. I mean, we're allowing thousands of people to come into our country, thousands and thousands of people being placed all over the country that frankly nobody knows who they are. They don't have documentation in many cases ? in most cases.?And we don't know what we're doing," Trump said.
The Clinton campaign slammed the real estate mogul after he in his last interview of the day reiterated his position on Muslims and immigrants. "In less than 24 hours after capturing the Republican nomination, Donald Trump has already made it abundantly clear the type of America that would emerge under him: one in which Latinos, Muslims and other communities of colour would not feel at home," said Lorella Praeli, national director of Latino Outreach.
"Trump doubled down on his quest to ban Muslims from entering the United States and deport millions of immigrant families who are part of America's social fabric and economic engine," Praeli said. "And just today, we were once again reminded that Trump's hateful rhetoric and bigoted policy proposals threaten to obstruct our path towards a more open and fair country.
We simply cannot afford that. Hillary Clinton will not tolerate this divisive and dangerous direction and, as President, will not stop fighting to break down the barriers and build ladders of opportunity for every American," the Clinton Campaign official said.
The rival Hillary Clinton campaign slammed Trump asserting that the former secretary of state would not tolerate this divisive and dangerous direction as the US President.
(PTI inputs)
