Ted Cruz Doubles Down On Call To ‘Secure Muslim Neighborhoods’
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz responded to NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s criticisms of Cruz’s plan to “patrol Muslim neighborhoods,” doubling down on what some commentators have called hateful rhetoric.
“One of the causes of this horror has been European bureaucrats restraining law enforcement from fully engaging with the Muslim community in ‘no go’ zones,” wrote Ted Cruz this morning in an editorial for the New York Daily News.
Ted Cruz penned an op-ed for the New York Daily News criticizing Bill Bratton’s stance on the effectiveness of patrolling Muslim neighborhoods as a deterrent to home-grown terror plots. Cruz had previously cited the NYPD’s own plan to pay extra attention to Muslim neighborhoods, but Bratton claims Cruz has the wrong idea. That the NYPD was only trying to build a better relationship, not crackdown on policing in Muslim neighborhoods.
.@CommissBratton blasts @tedcruz for his 'lack of knowledge of what works here in New York' https://t.co/PhETapDnAn
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) March 28, 2016
“Many European leaders are now recognizing that passively allowing the Islamist threat to fester was a serious error. We cannot make the same mistakes in America,” wrote Ted Cruz in his editorial this morning.
The Ted Cruz op-ed certainly doubles down on Cruz’s previous statement suggesting that Muslim neighborhoods need to be patrolled more frequently by police in order to stifle radical influences. The rhetoric at play in the Cruz editorial has been characterized by The Daily Kos as racist.
“Liberal politicians, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mayor de Blasio all loudly denounced my approach. Indeed they seemed far more outraged at my calling for us to prevent radical Islamic terrorism then they were at the terrorists who attacked in Brussels,” writes Ted Cruz in an opinion editorial piece for the New York Daily News.
Bill Bratton commented on the Cruz proposal and pointed out that the NYPD had tried what Cruz suggested, and that it didn’t work as they’d hoped. Bratton suggests that patrolling Muslim neighborhoods would only breed distrust and harm an already fragile relationship between Muslim Americans and law enforcement.
“The Muslim community felt we were spying on them, that we were trying to intimidate them, that we were not concerned with their concerns. We’ve learned with the past,” said Bill Bratton, reports New York Daily News.
As The Inquisitr has reported previously, the Ted Cruz proposal – to secure and patrol Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. was met with a chorus of opposition from the left and from the right. The Cruz proposal was most severely criticized by NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton who had first-hand experience working with a program that attempted to do just what Cruz wanted to do – patrol Muslim neighborhoods.
Ted Cruz: Why Bill Bratton's wrong https://t.co/IvAJebhsvT
— Teresa Rhodes (@teresajrhodes) March 29, 2016
“If we don’t want to become Europe, we need to put aside the political correctness, focus our efforts on stopping radicalization and do what needs to be done to keep America safe,” wrote Ted Cruz in his op-ed for the New York Daily News today.
Bratton came out against the Cruz proposal, stating simply that the approach Cruz wants to use against Muslim-Americans simply will cause more harm to an already fragile relationship. Bratton suggests that the answer is reaching out, community engagement, not harder policing and increased patrols.
“After the Brussels attacks, I called out the de Blasio administration for its shortsighted capitulation to its liberal allies at the expense of the safety and security of the people of New York. In response, Commissioner Bill Bratton penned an op-ed attacking my policy,” said Ted Cruz in his own op-ed this morning.
Bratton’s more measured approach was criticized by Cruz in his editorial this morning. Ted Cruz goes on to describe why his plan is the right plan for America – for preventing terror attacks on American soil. Cruz characterizes opposition to his patrol Muslim neighborhoods proposal as capitulation to political correctness, an attitude which Cruz blames for the Brussels attacks.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
