New York City political and religious leaders are speaking out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him a racist after his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from coming to the United States. Nathan Frandino reports

"What Donald Trump has called for, banning Muslims from entering our nation, is xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic. His fearmongering is fanning hate," City Council Speaker Mark Viverito said. 

"When someone has a faith and and when someone is a Muslim that they simply should not be allowed to come to our country, our world, our democracy, it is simply unacceptable," Rabbi Bob Kaplan added. 

Despite the outrage, Trump is defending his proposal. He says the country has no choice if it's to prevent more attacks like the one in San Bernardino, California last week. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.