WASHINGTON — A U.S. presidential candidate has called for troops along the Canadian border, as the American election becomes consumed by national-security fears.
Ben Carson says he wants soldiers and national guard stationed along the Mexican border — and at "designated spots" along the Canadian border.
It's one of his Seven Steps to a Safer America. Others include formally declaring war against ISIL, restrictions on visitor visas, establishing a refugee safe zone within Syria, and investigating the group Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Carson had a brief spike in the polls for the Republican nomination.
But his support collapsed around the same time security came to dominate the conversation. The retired neurosurgeon was mocked for his allegedly loose grasp of foreign policy, including his method of pronouncing the name of the militant group Hamas — which from Carson's mouth sounded a bit like the chickpea dip, "hummus."
The Canadian border has, so far, mostly been spared from the U.S. national-security conversation save for the occasional news article hinting at a terrorist threat to the north.
Before he dropped out of the race, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was asked by a journalist about building a wall along the northern border with Canada and he appeared initially to be considering it.
