Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stood by his criticism today of so-called “no-go” zones in Europe, where sovereign nations allegedly cede authority to Muslim immigrants, a controversial idea many critics say is overblown.
As CNN reports, Jindal decried at a speech in London 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 the so-called no-go zones, Jindal said, “not at all.”
“And I’m also making a bigger and maybe even more controversial point,” Jindal 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.
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 going to make people upset.”
Jindal also was 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.”
But his “bigger point,” Jindal later told 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.”
Despite the controversial criticism, the speech drew praise from conservatives, with National Review columnist Larry Kudlow calling it a “brilliant take on radical Islam.”
“It is the toughest speech I have read on the whole issue of Islamic radicalism and its destructive, murdering, barbarous ways which are upsetting the entire world,” Kudlow writes in an op-ed featured on the Real Clear Politics website.
