NEW YORK — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Tuesday that surveillance in Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. must be intensified following the deadly bombings at Brussels, while rival Donald Trump suggested torturing a suspect in last year’s Paris attacks would have prevented the carnage.
Echoing Trump’s earlier statements, Cruz said the U.S. should stop the flow of refugees from countries where the Islamic State has a significant presence. The Islamic State took credit for the attacks at the Brussels airport and a subway station that killed dozens Tuesday and wounded many more.
“We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized,” the Texas senator said in a statement.
Trump praised Cruz’s plan as a “good idea” that he supports “100 percent” in an interview with CNN. The GOP 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.
“Well, you know, he may be talking, but he’ll talk a lot faster with the torture. … Because he probably knew about it. I would be willing to bet that he knew about this bombing that took place today,” Trump said.
Trump, who has proposed a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S., said “nothing’s nice” about techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning. He added, “It’s your minimal form of torture. We can’t waterboard, and they can chop off heads.”
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said earlier Tuesday the Brussels plot probably was underway before the suspect’s arrest and that his apprehension may have sped up its execution.
When reminded that international law prohibits torture, Trump responded: “Well, I would say that the eggheads that came up with this international law should turn on their television and watch CNN right now, because I’m looking at scenes on CNN right now as I’m speaking to you that are absolutely atrocious.”
Speaking Tuesday afternoon in New York, Cruz praised the city’s police department’s former program of conducting surveillance in Muslim neighborhoods, called for its re instatement and said it could be a model for police departments nationwide.
“New Yorkers want a safe and secure America,” Cruz said. “New Yorkers saw first-hand the tragic consequences of radical Islamic terrorism.”
After the 9/11 attacks, the New York Police Department used its intelligence division to cultivate informants and conduct surveillance in Muslim communities. In a series of articles, The Associated Press revealed the intelligence division had infiltrated dozens of mosques and Muslim student groups and investigated hundreds.
The program was disbanded amid complaints of religious and racial profiling.
