Following the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called on Congress to crack the whip on accepting refugees, The Hill reports.
"Congress should act to prevent Americans who have traveled abroad for training from returning here, and to stop the flow of refugees from hotbeds of terrorism in the Middle East that President Obama is determined to bring to our country," said Cruz on Monday.
Cruz, who has openly criticized the Obama administration's terrorism policy, said the country is "moving into a new phase of the war against ISIS and al-Qaida."
"We must avoid the trap of misconceiving these attacks as isolated incidents somehow disconnected from the larger ideological struggle against jihad," Cruz said, adding that "it is past time to take off the blinders and call the enemy what it is: radical Islamic terrorism engaged in a coordinated campaign designed to disrupt our very way of life."
"We can't overcome our enemies by pretending they don't exist, and undermining our first line of defenders. Only together, clear-eyed and determined, can we defeat this foe," he said.
The Texas lawmaker's comments come in the backdrop of weekend explosions in New York and New Jersey following which Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect, was taken into custody. The 28-year-old is a U.S. citizen, who was born in Afghanistan.
Apart from limiting the entrance of refugees, Cruz also batted for law enforcement involving American Muslim community.
Earlier this year, Cruz worked towards blocking President Obama's plan of increasing the number of Syrian refugees in the United States after the Brussels terror attack.
Cruz also pushed for laws that would revoke citizenship for anyone providing support to the Islamic State and terrorist groups abroad.
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