‘Some people are going to be upset’ Republican frontrunner says, adding he would consider warrantless searches of Muslims and surveillance on mosques

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump would not rule out tracking Muslim Americans in a database or giving them “a special form of identification that noted their religion”, Yahoo news reported on Thursday in an interview with the Republican presidential candidate.

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“We’re going to have to do things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago,” Trump told Yahoo.

“Some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule.”

He said he would consider warrantless searches of Muslims and increased surveillance of mosques. “Certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy.”

Asked whether this might mean registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion, the candidate would not rule it out.

“We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

Earlier this week, Trump suggested police surveillance of mosques, and praised a controversial program by the NYPD to spy on Muslims as “great”. He said he would consider former NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly, who led that program, for a cabinet position.