Rep. Peter King suggested in a meeting Thursday with President-elect Donald Trump that the federal government begin a Muslim-surveillance program like the one NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
King (R-Seaford) told reporters after the discussion at Trump Tower in Manhattan that he relayed recommendations for “the Justice Department and the FBI be more leaning forward when it comes to investigating Islamist terrorism.”
He said, “I suggested a program similar to what Commissioner Kelly did here in New York, and that we can’t worry about political correctness.”
King, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, met with Trump for about an hour. He said they were joined by Vice President-elect Mike Pence; Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), Trump’s pick to lead the CIA; Suffolk County Republican chairman John Jay LaValle; and Hempstead Town Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney, the congressman’s daughter.
King told Newsday he did not ask Trump’s reaction specifically to a Muslim-surveillance program, but said the president-elect agreed with his views that the country should be more aggressive on terrorism and less concerned with political correctness.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to a request for comment on a nationwide Muslim-surveillance program.
The New York program has generated criticism.
The inspector general for the NYPD found earlier this year that police broke intelligence-gathering rules in monitoring Muslim community members at mosques and other locations in and around New York City.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a legal challenge, denouncing the program as religious profiling.
“Dragnet surveillance of Muslims is unconstitutional and un-American,” Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said Thursday.
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