Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: U.S. Police Need To 'Patrol' and 'Secure' Muslim Neighborhoods

AUSTIN, TX -- Reacting to Tuesday’s terror attacks in Brussels that left dozens dead, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is running for president, said police in the U.S. need to ‘patrol and secure’ Muslim neighborhoods in the wake of the Belgium bombings.

Cruz told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that U.S. law enforcement officials need to step up policing of prevalently Muslim neighborhoods, likening such enclaves as areas with higher gang activity where police have a beefed-up presence.

"If you have a neighborhood where there's a high level of gang activity, the way to prevent it is you increase the law enforcement presence there and you target the gang members to get them off the streets," Cruz said. "I'm talking about any area where there is a higher incidence of radical Islamic terrorism."

Cruz went on to reference what he termed a “successful program" previously implemented in New York during the tenure of Michael Bloomberg, pointing to the NYPD’s controversial surveillance of Muslims residents.

His comments to Cooper were essentially a doubling down of the sentiment. Earlier in the day, he released a statement that read in part: “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized."

Cruz said people need to not indulge in "political correctness" as a way of justifying his comments about police patrols of neighborhoods with Muslim populations. In the past, his GOP rival for the presidency, Donald Trump, also has attributed the idea of "political correctness" in voicing his own anti-Muslim sentiments.

"For years, the West has tried to deny this enemy exists out of a combination of political correctness and fear,” Cruz's prepared statement before his CNN appearance read. “We can no longer afford either. Our European allies are now seeing what comes of a toxic mix of migrants who have been infiltrated by terrorists and isolated, radical Muslim neighborhoods."

Trump later agreed with Cruz, calling the proposal to target Muslim neighborhoods "a good idea" in releasing a statement.

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But in other circles, the Texas senator’s comments were quickly repudiated -- including by some in his own party.

"We are not at war with Islam, we are at war with radical Islam," Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also running for president, said during a news conference. "Just because you happen to be a Muslim does not mean you want to destroy someone in the West.... The last thing we need is more polarization because for those who want to preserve Islam in the west, we alienate them."

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz condemned Cruz’s comments.

"Ted Cruz is a disgrace," the Florida congresswoman said in a prepared statement. "His comments today were worse than opportunistic and inappropriate politicking in the wake of the terrible tragedy in Brussels -- they were a shameful display of hate that only serves to foment anger and make the world less secure.”

The Anti-Defamation League also weighed in, rebuking the Texas senator for his proposal.

"Ordering special patrols of Muslim neighborhoods will almost certainly create an adversarial relationship between law enforcement and the communities they have sworn to protect, making those communities more vulnerable, more frightened, and often less willing to help,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a prepared statement.

"The approach is contrary to the principles of individual rights, equality, justice, and religious freedom on which this nation was founded.”

The Associated Press investigative news editor tweeted a reminder to Cruz that the reboot of the NYPD Muslim surveillance program the senator is proposing earned his news organization a Pulitzer Prize for having exposed.

In his Twitter post, Ted Bridis cited part of a court decision that effectively dismantled the surveillance program, likening the police probe to cyclical targeting of minorities throughout history: Jewish Americans during the Red Scare; African Americans during the Civil Rights Era; Japanese Americans during WWII.

Cruz's comments cement the platform plank as it relates to treatment of Muslims from the Republican Party's two top contenders for the nation's highest office -- the presidency of the United States. Trump has previously aired his own views on members of the Muslim community in appealing to his base.

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a December campaign press release read. Trump later recited the press release to audiences while on the campaign stump, referring to himself in the third person as he read the release verbatim.

Trump also has called for surveillance of mosques and keeping a database containing the names of all Muslims living in the U.S.