Citing Israel, Trump says US should consider racial profiling

Donald Trump says Sunday he is open to racial profiling, touching another raw nerve on the issue of race in America.

Trump, the free-talking presumptive Republican presidential nominee, comes close to endorsing racial profiling outright in an interview aired Sunday on CBS.

Trump is asked point-blank if he was talking about increasing profiling of Muslims in America.

“Well, I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump tells the program “Face the Nation.”

He adds: “So we really have to look at profiling. We have to look at it seriously. And other countries do it, and it’s not the worst thing to do. I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to use common sense. We’re not using common sense.”

Trump asserts that Israel practices racial profiling, and that France also places mosques under surveillance.

“You look at Israel and you look at other countries, and they do it,” he says. “And they do it successfully.

“They’re doing it in France. In fact, in some instances, they’re closing down mosques. People don’t want to talk about it. People aren’t talking about it. But look at what they’re doing in France. They’re actually closing down mosques,” Trump asserts.

Trump has already infuriated many in America by calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country and by saying Mexico sends rapists and drug dealers across the border into the United States.

— AFP, Times of Israel staff