Last week, lawmakers pressed President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson), Attorney General (Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.) and Homeland Security Secretary (retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly) to go on the record about their stance on Trump’s policy proposals directed at Muslims. According to the Washington Post, “Trump has yet to elaborate on the specifics of campaign trail proposals for a ban on Muslim immigration, a registry of Muslims, a Muslim database or ‘extreme vetting’ of visa applicants’ religious beliefs, or special surveillance of mosques. His aides have also offered conflicting explanations of the proposals, all of which have alarmed civil rights advocates.”
Here are some snippets from the statements:
— Rex Tillerson said that Americans should not be afraid of Muslims and that through his travel to Muslim countries, he has gained an “appreciation and recognition of this great faith.” He said he does “not support a blanket-type rejection of any particular group of people,” but added that there are “serious challenges to be able to vet people coming into the country.”
— Jeff Sessions said he would support a “higher intensity of vetting” for people coming from “areas where we have an unusually high risk of terrorists coming in, people who could be clearly violent criminals.” Pressed on whether religious views would be a factor in determining whether somebody has extreme views, Sessions responded with, “Their religious views in … extremism. If … their interpretation of their religious views encompasses dangerous doctrines and terroristic attacks, I think they should certainly deserve more careful scrutiny than someone whose religious views are less problematic.”
— Gen. John F. Kelly said “I don’t agree with registering people based on ethnic or religion or anything like that.”
