Donald Trump: ‘Immigration Security Is National Security’

During a speech in North Carolina Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump accused his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, of a “lack of national security accountability.”

“Attack after attack—from 9/11 to San Bernardino to Orlando—we have seen how failures to screen who is entering the United States puts all of our citizens in danger,” he said. “So let me state this very clearly: immigration security is national security.”

Trump said Clinton has “the most open borders policy of anyone ever to seek the presidency,” and as secretary of state, she “allowed thousands of criminal aliens to be released into our communities.” Her said her immigration plan would bring in 620,000 refugees in her first term “with no effective way to screen or vet them.”

“Her plan would cost $400 billion dollars in terms of lifetime welfare and entitlement costs,” he said. “This isn’t just a matter of terrorism, but also quality of life. We want to make sure we are only admitting people into our country who love our country.

“My highest duty as president is to protect our citizens and to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I will honor that duty to the fullest extent every single day—and I will never waver in that sacred obligation.”

Trump, noting that Clinton won’t use the phrase “radical Islam,” said that “anyone who cannot name our enemy, is not fit to lead this country. Those who are unable to condemn the hatred, oppression, and violence of radical Islam lack the moral clarity to serve as our president.”

“The commander-in-chief of this nation must speak with moral clarity and conviction,” he said. “Our system of government is the best in the world and, as your president, I will defend our values—and speak out against all those who assault our values in any way.

“It’s also time to remember one very important word: accountability. All this disaster with ISIS happened on Hillary Clinton’s watch. Her policies in Iraq, Libya and Syria are responsible for the rise of ISIS. Her attacks on me are all meant to deflect from her record of unleashing this monstrous evil upon us.

“Her timetable withdrawal from Iraq, her push for regime change in Libya and Syria, her open borders policies—these are the actions that unleashed the ISIS disaster. So she will say and do anything to distract from that record of total failure.”

Trump said that Clinton’s recent claims that his opposition to radical Islamic terrorism is somehow a recruiting tool for ISIS “demonstrates a level of ignorance” that also is disqualifying—that she’s “dangerously unfit” for the presidency. He said her comments were reckless and beneath the dignity of presidency.

“ISIS is torturing, murdering, executing and exterminating people in a campaign of genocide, and what is Hillary Clinton’s suggestion? That we should censor our vocabulary so as not to upset these butchers,” he said. “I have news for Hillary Clinton: refusing to call out radical Islam will not lessen the danger; it will only increase and embolden the danger—just like we have seen during her disastrous and failed tenure as secretary of state.

“The rise of ISIS is Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy legacy. Secretary Clinton has helped to topple regimes, displaced millions and then opened the door to ISIS to enter our country. How is this a smart policy?

“Hillary Clinton’s decisions overseas have left us with the threat we face today—and her immigration policies will invite this threat onto our shores.”