Rand: US Should ‘Look At Anyone’ From 30 Countries, Not Just Iraq and Syria

Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul stated that the US should “look at anyone coming from about 30 countries,” not just Iraq and Syria, in an interview with Fox News Radio’s John Gibson on Friday.

Rand said he would support the House bill to pause the admission of Iraqi and Syrian refugees, but that it only goes “part of the way,” and he wants to go further than that, and “look at anyone coming from about 30 countries” and visa waiver countries.

Rand also stated, in response to a question on whether “unlockable” encryption systems should be banned, “The problem with banning encryption is, it’d be like banning guns, the only people that would have the guns would be the terrorists, and those who are acting illegally, and those of us who obey the law would be prevented from having privacy on the Internet.” He added that having a backdoor the government can get into would weaken the security of the code, and make information accessible to hackers.

Later Rand said that the idea of a database of Muslims, “goes against everything we stand for” and is “foolish.”

When asked if he thinks the president should join with Vladimir Putin to fight ISIS, Rand responded that “everyone needs to be fighting ISIS.” He further said that the Muslim nations are going to have to “step up and do the fighting” in order to have a lasting peace, and the US “can’t fight all their battles for them. We need to defend our country. We need to defend against the spread of ISIS, and we can be part of the final solution, but the ultimate solution, the boots on the ground have to be Arab boots on the ground.”

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