RustyNails
Member
Bobby Jindal slams 'no-go zones,' pushes 'assimilation'
(CNN) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday stood by his criticism of so-called "no-go" zones in Europe, where sovereign nations allegedly cede authority to Muslim immigrants, a controversial idea that many critics say is overblown.
And he decried what he called immigrants' insistence on "non-assimilation, the fact that "you've got people who want to come to our country but not adopt our values," which he called "dangerous."
Asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer whether he would walk back his comments on no-go zones, made in a speech to the Henry Jackson Society in London earlier that day, Jindal said, "not at all."
"And I'm also making a bigger and maybe even more controversial point," he added, "that radical Islam is a grave threat, we need Muslim leaders to denounce the individuals, not just the acts of violence, and also that it is absolutely correct to insist on assimilation" of immigrants in the United States, he said.
But pressed for specific examples of such no-go zones, Jindal demurred, saying he had met with "elected officials and others" to discuss them and noted a report in UK tabloid the Daily Mail that purported to highlight the challenges facing law enforcement in such areas.
Earlier in the interview, Jindal acknowledged: "I knew by speaking the truth we were gonna make people upset."
pkg foster uk jindal muslim comments_00005718
Muslim Council: 'Shocked' by Jindal's ignorance 04:38
PLAY VIDEO
Jindal was also unable to offer examples during an earlier interview with CNN's Max Foster, saying that he's "heard from folks here that there are neighborhoods where women don't feel comfortable going in without veils...We all know that there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into."
"I think that the radical Left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here. Pretending it's not here won't make it go away," he told Foster.
Pressed for details, Jindal said only "I think your viewers know absolutely there are places where the police are less likely to go."
And asked whether that feeling may be caused by high crime rates, rather than the Muslim population in the area, Jindal said, "this isn't a question."
"I know the left wants to make this into an attack on religion and that's not what this is. What we are saying it's absolutely an issue for the UK, absolutely is an issue for America and other European and Western nations," he added.
But his "bigger point," Jindal later told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, is that "radical Islam is absolutely a threat to our way of life," and that the United States should "promote assimilation and integration" of immigrants by "insisting on English, insisting on adherence to our values."
Earlier Monday, in an address to the Henry Jackson Society in London, Jindal said that "in the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home," according to prepared remarks.
"It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so called 'no-go zone.' The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom," he added.
The idea of "no-go zones" sparked controversy last week when a Fox News commentator raised the prospect of areas in France, Britain, Sweden and Germany where those countries' governments "don't exercise any sovereignty," and instead are run largely by Muslim immigrants.
He also mentioned whole cities "where non-Muslims simply don't go in," in particular the city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.