GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz doubled down on his call for increased surveillance on the nation's Muslim neighborhoods Wednesday, appearing on several network news shows to explain his position and defend it in the wake of growing criticism.
"What I'm talking about is focusing law enforcement and national security resources on areas on locations where there is a higher incidence of radical Islamic terrorism," the Texas senator
told NBC's Savannah Guthrie on the "Today" show, explaining that increased patrols provide protection in those communities.
And on Fox News' Fox and Friends, Cruz explained that in New York City, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, there was a program of "proactive policing that engaged cooperatively with Muslim communities to stop radicalization and to apprehend, to anticipate and stop radical islamic terrorist attacks before they occur."
But Mayor Bill de Blasio, "in a fit of political correctness cancelled that program. And it makes no sense for us to be less than vigilant and you're right."
And New Yorkers are less safe because the program was canceled, said Cruz.
"It's denying the threat we face and it's been amazing watching Democrats, Mayor de Blasio had a press conference yesterday, just attacking me and getting all upset. He seems more upset that I'm calling for stopping the terrorists than the terrorism...I will apologize to no one for how vigorous I will be as commander in chief, destroying ISIS and keeping this country safe."
Cruz's call for increased surveillance in Muslim neighborhoods drew sharp rebukes from Muslim Americans and civil rights groups, who panned the Republican's proposal as unconstitutional and counterproductive.
Cruz was also hit by NYPD Commission Bill Bratton and former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden. And MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said Cruz's plan
"makes us less safe."
"We don't have radicalized communities in the United States," Hayden told Scarborough. "We have some radicalized individuals. We have it within our ability, however, to create radicalized communities and we ought to take every step not to do that."
The United States has a "cultural bent" toward assimiliation that is a strategic and operational advantage that makes the United States more safe than Europe, Hayden continued, even putting aside the question of American values.
Bratton hit Cruz hard, saying his comments are "why he's not going to become president of this country," Bratton in a Times Square press conference with de Blasio. "We don't need a president that doesn't respect the values that form the foundation of this country."
Cruz said Tuesday that law enforcement should be empowered to "patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized." Echoing earlier statements from rival Donald Trump, Cruz also said the U.S. should stop the flow of refugees from countries where the Islamic State militant group has a significant presence. IS claimed responsibility for the attacks at the Brussels airport and a subway station that killed dozens Tuesday and wounded many more.
Muslims across the county and groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Anti-Defamation League condemned Cruz's statements, but many said his reaction was nothing new. Advocacy groups have said for months that the Islamic extremist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino and the intensifying rhetoric in the presidential campaign have ratcheted up animosity against American Muslims.
"We believe we are part of the society. We have the same ideology as mainstream Americans," said Osman Ahmed, a resident of a Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. "I don't think the ideology of surveillance of a Muslim community neighborhood is the right thing to do. That will send a message that Muslim Americans are not a part of American society ... and that's the message that terrorism groups are willing to hear."
Trump, who has proposed a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S, praised Cruz's plan as a "good idea" that he supports "100 percent" in an interview with CNN. The Republican front-runner also intensified his past calls for the U.S. to engage in harsher interrogation techniques, arguing that Belgium could have prevented the bombings had it tortured a suspect in last year's Paris attacks who was arrested last week.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, condemned the call for surveillance, saying it sends "an alarming message to American-Muslims who increasingly fear for their future in this nation."
The Anti-Defamation League, a U.S. group that battles anti-Semitism worldwide, said Cruz's plan harkens back to the relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II.
Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, said she fears for armed groups "who are emboldened by the commentary from people like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump."
"What's scaring me more is the kind of potential fueling of these vigilantes and people who might want to take up arms and go patrol Muslim neighborhoods," she said.