Washington: Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence has said that the American people need to recognise that "we're at war with radical Islamic terrorism" and his running mate Donald Trump has a plan to confront it.
Pence said the Trump plan includes undertaking a review of immigration policies and suspending immigration from nations that have been compromised by terrorism.
"Trump has a plan to confront it. A part of that includes a full review of our immigration policies, suspending immigration from territories and nations that have been compromised by terrorism. And (Trump's Democratic rival) Hillary Clinton actually wants to increase the refugee flow from Syria by 550 per cent," he told Fox News.
"We have to start doing things differently. We have to start putting the safety and security of the American people first. And that's precisely what Donald Trump will do when he becomes president of the United States," Pence asserted.
"We need to begin to recognise that we're at war with radical Islamic terrorism," he said. "Last week, there were several terrorist attacks... Thankfully, no loss of life. We had Mr (Ahmad Khan) Rahami involved in terrorist bombings in New Jersey and New York City."
The 57-year-old Indiana governor also attempted to link the suspect in the Washington state mall shooting that killed five people to radicalisation and immigration issues.
"We don't know the motivation of the permanent legal resident in Washington state who took five American lives last night. But I think what you heard Donald Trump talking about was just simply we need common sense back in our immigration policies in this country," he added.
He alleged that Clinton won't even name radical Islamic terrorism and that she "apparently thinks this is an episode of" mega-hit business reality show 'Shark Tank'.
"But this is America. It's serious business. The American people have an enormously important choice to make," he said.
"I mean, Hillary Clinton essentially wants to continue the policies of this administration that have weakened America's place in the world, stifled America's economy, walked away from our most cherished constitutional principles," he said.
Pence joined Trump in slamming Clinton for inviting Trump critic Mark Cuban for the first presidential debate tomorrow.
Trump had hinted in a tweet that as a retaliation to the move by Clinton he might also invite a former lover of her husband and former president Bill Clinton to the debate.
But Pence said Gennifer Flowers "will not be attending the debate".
"Donald Trump's not about that. He's going to focus in this debate tomorrow night as he has throughout this election on the issues the American people care about," he said.
"Trump was using the tweet yesterday really to mock an effort by Hillary Clinton and her campaign to really distract attention from what the American people are going to be focused tomorrow night, which is on the issues, on the choice that we face," he added in the interview.
