Obama slams Cruz's Muslim surveillance proposal as 'un-American'

President Obama dismissed Sen. Ted Cruz's proposal to "patrol and secure" U.S. Muslim neighborhoods in the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks as "un-American" and "counterproductive" during a press conference in Argentina Wednesday.

"One of the great strengths of the United States — and part of the reason why we have not seen more attacks in the United States — is we have a extraordinarily successful, patriotic, integrated Muslim-American community," Obama said, explaining that targeting Muslims would only reduce the "antibodies that we have to resist terrorism."

"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 added, referencing his historic trip to Cuba and Cruz's Cuban heritage.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Obama vowed that defeating ISIS, the group behind the bombings in Brussels Tuesday that killed 31, is a top priority. He insisted, however, that we must do so "in an intelligent way."

"The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense," Obama said. "It's contrary to who we are. And it's not going to help us defeat [ISIS]."