Carl Higbie, Navy SEAL turned news commentator, is confident that Donald Trump’s administration will be able to legally implement a Muslim registry once the president-elect is inaugurated.
Higbie appeared on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” Wednesday to discuss the matter, following an interview with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. While de Blasio worried that a registry based on religion would violate the constitution, Higbie argued that there’s already a precedent for the registry in place.
“It is legal. They say it’ll hold constitutional muster. I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it’ll pass,” he told host Megyn Kelly. “We did it during World War II with the Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will.”
At that point Kelly cut him off to ensure he wasn’t proposing that we take inspiration from Japanese interment camps. Higbie clarified: “I’m not proposing that at all, Megyn. But what I am saying is we need to protect America first.”
When Kelly said that his internment camp reference is why people are nervous about an identity-based registry, Higbie responded, “Right, but I’m just saying there’s precedent for it.”
As for the constitutionality issue, Higbie said that people outside of the United States aren’t protected by the constitution: “The president needs to protect America first, and if that means having people that are not protected under our constitution have some sort of registry so that we can understand, until we can identify the true threat and where it’s coming from, I support it.”
The problem with that statement, as Kelly pointed out, is that they are protected by the constitution when they come into this country.