When real estate mogul Donald Trump on Monday proposed to bar all Muslims from immigrating to the United States, several of his GOP presidential rivals rushed to denounce him, but others barely made a peep.
On one end of the spectrum, candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) called him out for stoking racist and nativist fears.
But other candidates were less willing to take on Trump, and in appealing to the GOP base, some of them have proposed similarly offensive ideas in the past.
For example, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), when asked to respond to Trump, merely said that Trump's idea is "not my policy." Cruz has said that he wants to impose a religious test for Syrian refugees entering the U.S., believing that only Christian refugees should be accepted.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) did not outright condemn Trump either, with his campaign noting that Paul introduced an amendment in the Senate last week to temporarily block immigrants from countries "with known radical elements," a proposal which Cruz also supported.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson affirmed on Monday that he does not think religion should be used to restrict immigration but supports a system of monitoring all visitors to the country.
"Everyone visiting our country should register and be monitored during their stay as is done in many countries," Carson's spokesman Doug Watts said. "We do not and would not advocate being selective on one's religion."
Carson has made anti-Muslim remarks in the past, like when he said that he would not support a Muslim person becoming president.
Some candidates, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) took the middle ground, noting that Trump's idea is impractical but not outright denouncing him.
This article was updated with Rubio's response.
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