Miami, Sep 19 (EFE).- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday at a campaign rally in Florida said that the United States must close its doors to terrorism, adding that border security means national security.
At a campaign rally in Germain Arena, a coliseum located in Estero in southwestern Florida, the magnate criticized the policy of “open borders” pursued by the administration of Barack Obama, a stance he claimed – incorrectly – that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton shares.
“These attacks and many others were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system, which fails to properly vet or screen the individuals or families coming into our country,” said Trump.
“Attack after attack, from 9/11 to San Bernardino, we have seen how failures to screen who is entering our United States puts all of our citizens, everyone in this room, in danger,” he added.
Trump emphasized the need to strengthen border security, equating it with national security, and to defeat radical terrorists in a speech in which he alluded to the placing of several bombs in New York City and New Jersey, as well as a knife attack by an alleged jihadist sympathizer at a Minnesota mall that left nine people wounded on the weekend.
“We cannot let this evil continue. Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical Islam … be allowed to reside or spread within our country. Just can’t do it,” the mogul said, adding that it is time to use “common sense” and properly screen immigrants.
Trump said that Clinton had “caused the problem,” in part blaming her stance on immigration and her efforts as secretary of state from 2009-2013 for enabling terrorism to increase.
“She very much caused the problem, when you think about it. Her weakness, her ineffectiveness, caused the problem. And now she wants to be president? I don’t think so,” he said. “Hillary Clinton is a weak and ineffective person. And I will tell you, if you choose Donald Trump (in the November elections), these problems are going to go away.”
He also said that, whereas she refuses to use the term “radical Islam” when talking about terrorism, she has called some of his supporters “deplorables.”
“Anyone who cannot name our enemy is not fit to lead this country,” Trump said.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old nationalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, was arrested Monday by police after a shootout in the city of Linden, New Jersey. He is the only suspect so far in the New York City and New Jersey bombings that wounded 29 people, and he reportedly wounded four police officers before being taken into custody.