Presidential candidate Donald Trump released a statement on Monday 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."
"Mr. Trump stated, 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. 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," the statement read.
When asked specifically, which Muslims would be banned from entering the U.S., Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told ABC News "the ban applies to everyone."
The White House did not agree with Trumps suggestion.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN “It's totally contrary to our values as Americans. You know, we have in our Bill of Rights respect for the freedom of religion. Muslim-Americans have made extraordinary contributions to our country, but it's also contrary to our security."
"The fact of the matter is ISIL wants to frame this as a war between the United States and Islam. And if we look like we're applying religious tests who comes into this country, we're sending a message that essentially we're embracing that frame. And that is going to make it very difficult to partner with Muslim communities here in the United States and around the world to prevent this scourge of radicalization that we need to be focused on. We should be making it harder for ISIL to portray this as a war between the United States and Islam, not easier,” he added.
Hillary Clinton called Trumps remarks "reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive."
The Council on American Islamic Relations put out a statement following Trump's remarks:
"It’s really incredible that the leading Republican party presidential candidate would make what amounts to almost a fascist statement seeking to bar all Muslims from the United States," the statement read. "It would have been beyond belief sometime back but now it seems to be routine in terms of Donald Trump trying to one up himself with his Islamophobic rhetoric."
