After Brussels attack, Ted Cruz calls for police patrols of 'Muslim neighborhoods'



less A picture released on March 22, 2016 by the belgian federal police on demand of the Federal prosecutor shows a screengrab of the airport CCTV camera showing three suspects of this morning's attacks at Brussels Airport, in Zaventem. Two explosions in the departure hall of Brussels Airport this morning took the lives of 14 people, 81 got injured. Government sources speak of a terrorist attack. The terrorist threat level has been heightened to four across the country. A picture released on March 22, 2016 by the belgian federal police on demand of the Federal prosecutor shows a screengrab of the airport CCTV camera showing three suspects of this morning's attacks at Brussels ... more Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close After Brussels attack, Ted Cruz calls for police patrols of 'Muslim neighborhoods' 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who has said there is a "war on faith" in this country and frequently touts his support of "religious liberty" laws, called for stepped-up police patrols of "Muslim neighborhoods" in the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels.

In a Facebook post later turned into a campaign press release, Cruz said, "We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized."

His comments followed news reports of explosions at a Brussels airport and train station.

Federal authorities said the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks that occurred a little more than an hour apart. The attacks occurred four days after the capture of Europe's most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam, in Brussels. He is the sole survivor of the 10 men believed to have been directly involved in the Islamic State attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris Nov. 13.

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Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, is locked in a battle with billionaire Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president. Both candidates reacted to news of Tuesday's attacks in Belgium with calls for increased security and limits on people entering the country from the Middle East.

Trump, the GOP front-runner, initially said the United States should close its borders. The New York real estate mogul drew enormous criticism last year when he said United States should temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country; on Tuesday he said "I would be extremely careful about people from the Middle East coming into our country."

Cruz also said the country should "immediately halt the flow of refugees from countries with a significant al Qaida or ISIS presence."

RELATED: Cruz prepares legislation to keep out Syrian Muslim refugees

It was Cruz's call to patrol Muslim neighborhoods in a bid to prevent radicalization that drew the most attention.

"He is calling on domestic law enforcement to throw a blanket of suspicion over an entire religious community, based on where they worship and how they look," said David Harris, who teaches law enforcement and national security issues at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. "The idea that the police department is going to roll through a so-called Muslim neighborhood and spot the signs of radical jihad is absurd on its face."

The effort also would run up against credible constitutional challenges, said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City.

"Profiling people based on their religion is unconstitutional," she said, citing the First Amendment.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the New York Police Department mapped Muslim communities and sent undercover officers and informants into mosques for surveillance. The ACLU sued in 2013 alleging warrantless searches and religious persecution, and the city, under the leadership of Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, settled the suit in January, agreeing to change its practices.

The Associated Press reported in 2012 that the surveillance program "led to no threats, terror cases."

In subsequent comments to clarify his remarks, Cruz and his campaign cited New York City's efforts as an example to follow.

"Mayor de Blasio succumbed to unfounded criticisms and eliminated the efforts of law enforcement to work with Muslim communities to stop radical Islamic terrorism," the Cruz campaign said in an email that compared Cruz's proposed policing with law enforcement divisions that target drugs, gangs, human trafficking and organized crime.

RELATED: Fact Checker: Cruz's claim about NYPD's program spying on Muslim communities

"It is going to require an empowered, visible law enforcement presence that will both identify problem spots and partner with non-radical Americans who want to protect their homes," Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said.

Tim Ryle, executive director of the Texas Police Association, said law enforcement already is empowered to engage in the kind of surveillance Cruz is suggesting.

"But, generally speaking, law enforcement works all areas of its jurisdiction," he said. "It's not about one neighborhood or another neighborhood. It's about all of it. ... We constantly try to surveil criminals anywhere in the country, whether terrorists or car thieves."

He added, "American law enforcement is very effective at fighting criminal elements, including terror."

John Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, and author of "Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam," said high-profile policing of American Muslim communities would fuel greater radicalization, validating the talking points of extremist groups who claim that the West is at war with the entire religion of Islam.

Citing Cruz's call during a December debate to "carpet bomb" parts of the Middle East to combat the Islamic State, Esposito said the Texas senator has a habit of statements that could worsen the problem of radicalization.

RELATED: Carpet bombing ISIS not as easy as Cruz thinks

"What you're talking about is killing the vast majority of the civilian population. That's the kind of statement a terrorist makes," Esposito said. "These comments have international repercussions."

Salaam Bhatti, a lawyer and spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a self-described international revival movement within Islam, said efforts to combat radicalization should refute the narratives pushed by extremist organizations.

"We need to have efforts to really get to know each other," Bhatti said, citing a Pew Research survey that found 60 percent of Americans do not know a Muslim.

"We can't defeat extremism by resorting to extremism ourselves," Bhatti said. "We have to maintain a focus on superior ideas."

Esposito noted that Trump's approval ratings improved after he called for banning Muslims from entering the United States or declared that "Islam hates us." He suggested Cruz may be borrowing a page from the former reality television star's playbook.

"Each one of them is struggling to up the ante, to make the strongest possible to statement, show they'll be the most muscular," he said.