(Bergen Record) Muslim Americans and civil rights organizations are condemning comments Michael Bloomberg made defending a years-long mass surveillance program when he was New York City mayor.
Bloomberg said the surveillance in mosques, schools and Muslim-owned businesses in New York and New Jersey was a necessary response to protect the country after 9/11.
“Of course, we were supposed to do that,” the presidential candidate said in an interview on PBS Thursday. “All of the people came from the same place and all that came were from a place they happened to be one religion. And if they’d been another religion, we would’ve done the same thing.”
Critics say the program targeted a group of Americans based on faith alone and sowed widespread fear and mistrust.
