Obama Slams Ted Cruz For Proposing Surveillance Of U.S. Muslims

on Wednesday for the presidential hopeful’s statements that he would empower law enforcement to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods“ in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Brussels.

“I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which, by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free,” Obama said during a press conference in Argentina, referring to his historic trip to Cuba earlier this week.

He said the proposal “makes absolutely no sense” and goes against basic American values.

The Republican presidential candidate, a Cuban-American, has been deeply critical of Obama’s strategy to destroy the so-called Islamic State. He said Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels were more evidence that Obama needs to address the root of the problem.

While Republicans in a January Pew survey blamed religious violence mostly on those who use religion as a justification, most also support Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. In state primary exit polls to date, between 63 percent and 78 percent of GOP voters agreed with such a ban.

Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters say the next president should “speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole.