Most GOPers Couldn't Pass the 'Ideological Screening Test' for Immigrants Trump Proposed in His Latest Bizarre Speech
Donald Trump seems to have pulled back on his unprecedented Muslim ban. The GOP nominee now calls for "extreme vetting" of immigrants via an "ideological screening test."
In addition to potentially "suspend[ing] visa issuances to geographic regions with a history of exporting terrorism and where adequate checks and background vetting cannot occur... Trump is also expected to propose creating a new, ideological test for admission to the country that would assess a candidate's stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights," AP reported in advance of Trump's speech on ISIS today in Youngstown, Ohio.
"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today—I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting, our country has enough problems. We don't need more and these are problems like we've never had. In addition to screening out all members of the sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any of hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law," Trump said.Â
"Those who do not believe in our Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country; only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas. To put these new procedures in place we will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism. Not for us! Not for us!" Trump continued.
"Trump, Trump, Trump," the crowd chanted.Â
In 1952, the "McCarran Walter Act was the first immigration bill since the late 1790s to establish an ideological litmus test for admission to the United States," Robert David Johnson wrote in his book Congress and the Cold War.
Similar to Trump's softened Muslim ban, the bill was motivated by religious intolerance—antisemitism—and governed immigration policy for over a decade.Â