Patrick Murphy shared his thoughts Thursday on Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s plan to patrol Muslim communities, calling it “asinine” and saying the American people are “above that.”
U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)
Cruz made the proposal in a statement released in the wake of the terror attacks enacted by ISIS in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday. Cruz said the United States must “empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
Murphy, who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republican Marco Rubio, was asked at a news conference Thursday what he thought of Donald Trump’s support for Cruz’s remarks.
“What Mr. Trump said is appalling and disgraceful for any American to say, because we’re above that,” Murphy said. “I would raise the question to Mr. Trump, ‘What are you going to do to the Muslim police officer? To the Muslim FBI agent?’ It’s an asinine proposal, playing and pandering to the lowest common denominator, that should be unacceptable by anybody, any American, especially any of the Republicans voting in this primary process.”
Read more coverage from Murphy’s news conference.
Palm Beach Post staff writer Eliot Kleinberg contributed to this report.
