Trump suggests 'Nazi-like' plan for Muslim IDs

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he would not rule out requiring American Muslims to carry special identification showing their faith, in an interview with Yahoo News this week.

"We're going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule," said Trump.

"And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we're going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago" he added.

Observers have drawn parallels between Trump's remarks and measures implemented under Nazi Germany, where Jews where forced to wear a yellow Star of David to identify them.

I wonder if they're going to be star and crescent badges that we're going to have to wear? - Ibrahim Cooper, CAIR

"I wonder if they're going to be star and crescent badges that we're going to have to wear?" questioned Ibrahim Hooper, the communications director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"When somebody says that you're going to have a special ID for a religious group in America, what other comparison is there but to Nazi Germany," Hooper told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Hooper believes that US Muslims need the support of other segments of American society to combat anti-Muslim bigotry, which is "only getting worse". He called on the White House to lead the response to such attacks.

Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil rights organisation dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, described Trump's remarks as "completely outrageous and unacceptable".

"We're not in the business of tracking people like Jews were tracked by the Nazi regime," Beirich told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

"It's absolutely pathetic that we have a presidential candidate expressing those kind of ideas," Beirich added.

Jews were forced to wear identifying badges under Nazi Germany, which was one of many tactics aimed at isolating and dehumanising the Jews of Europe, and marking them as being different to other Europeans.

The tactic allowed for Jews to be separated from society and "ultimately led to the deportation and murder of six million Jews", said the Holocaust Memorial Centre.

Trump also said that he would not rule out warrantless arrests against American Muslims and increased surveillance of US mosques.

The billionaire presidential candidate has gained a reputation for making offensive remarks about minorities in the US after saying Mexican immigrants were bringing drugs and crime into the country, saying the country was sending America its "rapists".