If the President alienates Muslim Americans, frequent President Donald Trump critic Khizr Khan said he may end up endangering national security.
“Muslim are at the front lines. Patriotic Muslims within the United States feel alienated and if they are alienated, they will not be as supportive of his policies, as supportive of security and the threats that loom within our country,” the Gold Star Father told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Thursday on “New Day.”
“He should be reaching out to Muslims. He should be reaching out, joining hands to deal with the safety of the United States.”
Khan, whose son was killed in Iraq, hit the national stage after delivering a passionate appeal at July’s Democratic National Convention to encourage voters to support Hillary Clinton. He said Trump regularly smears religious minorities like his family.
Trump is considering a blanket ban on refugees. The ban is one of the more controversial of his campaign promises aimed at fighting terrorism and could specifically affect Muslim immigrants and refugees.
But the order — along with rhetoric which Khan calls racist and xenophobic — endangers the security of the US.
“Instead of reducing that anger within the United States and outside the United States, this executive order, these executive orders and this rhetoric further endangers my country, endangers the safety of my country,” Khan said.
He said Trump’s proposal is unconstitutional, because it discriminates based on religious faith.
“Banning Muslims from certain countries is a pretext to a Muslim ban, which is against the immigration policy of this country, which says that no person will be banned from entering this country because of their religious faith,” Khan said.