Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made waves Monday during a rally in South Carolina after he released a statement calling for the "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," and then doubled down on the controversial position, which was widely condemned by fellow Republicans.
"We have no idea who is coming into our country, no idea if they like us or hate us," Trump told supporters gathered at the rally. "I wrote something today that is very salient … and probably not very politically correct. But I don’t care."
According to the Associated Press, Trump's ban would apply to all Muslim immigrants and would affect more than a billion people worldwide. In his statement, Trump also said that he would not have such a ban lifted until the country could figure out what was prompting terror attacks.
"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," he said.
Trump warned those gathered at the rally that without drastic action, the issue was "going to get worse and worse; you're going to have more World Trade Centers." AP reports that those in attendance cheered loudly for the ban, but other Republicans, both Trump rivals for the presidency as well as Trump allies, were quick to reject Trump's latest proposal.
"Donald Trump is unhinged," Jeb Bush said via Twitter. "His 'policy' proposals are not serious."
Presidential candidate John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, said that Trump's proposed ban was an example of "outrageous divisiveness," and fellow candidate the always measured Ted Cruz added, "Well, that is not my policy," AP reports.
"Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours," Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AP. "He and others are playing into the hands of ISIS [Islamic State group]. This is exactly what ISIS wants from Americans: to turn against each other."
Read more at the Associated Press.