Policies targeting Muslims by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are "wrongheaded and unpresidential" and could hamper efforts to stop terrorism in the United States, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told
Newsmax TV on Tuesday.
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"It is not only clueless, it is unpresidential for two leading candidates to subscribe to the notion that basically all Muslims are terrorists," Ridge, who served from 2003 to 2005, told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner. "We all know that can be wrong.
"It reminds me of the days after Pearl Harbor when we decided that all Japanese American citizens were potential enemies and rounded them up and put them in camps.
"For short-term political gain, I think it's not only wrong, it's unacceptable — and, frankly, it's not very presidential because it flies into the face of religious diversity, which we embrace in this country, and our ability to maintain a good, working relationship with the Muslim community at large — internationally, as well as locally.
"Within the community, there may be some terrorists but they're not all terrorists," Ridge told Berliner. "We need to build and sustain a level of trust with community leaders and not dismiss them all as potential terrorists."
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