Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said that the U.S. should stop its plans to bring in Syrian refugees, and boost U.S. border security in order to ensure that the terrorist attacks in Paris late Friday night can’t happen in the United States.
“We must now face the facts,” Cruz said. “Between the downing of the Russian jet over Egypt and this massive coordinated attack on Paris, we are seeing an unmistakable escalation of ISIS’ ambitions and the scale of their terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq.”
“Even as chaos rages in Paris, we need to take immediate, commonsense steps to preserve our own safety,” he said. “We need to consult closely with our NATO allies who may be targeted for additional attacks. We need to immediately declare a halt to any plans to bring refugees that may have been infiltrated by ISIS to the United States.”
“We need to redouble our efforts to prevent ISIS agents from penetrating our nation by other means,” he added.
His recommendation came just hours after French Prime Minister Francois Hollande said he had closed France’s borders in the wake of an attack that killed more than 100 people in Paris, through attacks in seven different locations.
Cruz also said the U.S. needs to recognize radical Islamism as an enemy of the west. Although it wasn’t clear Friday night who was responsible for the attacks, some signs were emerging that the Islamic State may have been behind it.
“We must immediately recognize that our enemy is not ‘violent extremism,'” he said. “It is the radical Islamism that has declared jihad against the west.”
“It will not be appeased by outreach or declarations of tolerance,” he added. “It will not be deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties, when the terrorists have such utter disregard for innocent life.”
