Hillary Clinton tells USC Ted Cruz is wrong on Muslims, terrorism

Riding high in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton criticized Sen. Ted Cruz’s Idea about Muslims in America when the former secretary of state made a stop at USC Thursday moing.

Clinton said a call by Republican presidential hopeful Cruz to increase law enforcement patrols of Muslim neighborhoods in America following the terrorist attacks in Belgium is dangerous demagoguery.

“We caot allow our nation to be pitting groups against one another,” Clinton said. “We caot give in to panic and fear. It’s not in keeping with our values. It’s not effective in protecting us and it plays into the hands of terrorists.”

She made the remark as she joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and several panelists at a Homeland Security Roundtable in front of about 100 people at the USC Ronald Tutor Center.

• PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton at a Homeland Security Roundtable at USC

Clinton is in the midst of a Califoia swing raising money for her campaign.

Clinton’s visit to Los Angeles came one day after Democratic rival, Vermont Sen. Beie Sanders, held a boisterous rally at the Wilte Theater on Wednesday night, attended by about 2,000 people, and another rally in San Diego on Tuesday that drew 10,000.

Sanders vowed to his supporters that he will stay in the race until Califoia’s primary on June 7.

“If we win the Califoia primary with a decent vote total, we’re going to the White House,” he said at the Wilte Theater.

While Sanders won caucuses in Utah and Idaho on Tuesday, Clinton grabbed the wier-take-all primary in Arizona and has a pledged delegate lead of 1,223 to 920 over Sanders, according to the Associated Press count.

Clinton’s message Thursday moing ahead of a television taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and two fundraisers in the late afteoon and early evening was one of inclusiveness. With only the sound of camera shutters clicking in the room, she spoke softly and directly about Los Angeles, suggesting the city might understand the root cause of terrorism better than many places because of its battle with gangs.

“People who feel marginalized, left out, left behind are going to want to join something,” Clinton said. “And in thinking about it in that way, it may give more Americans an understanding of how there are many paths for us to take to try and counter violent extremism ... and to empower young people.”

Salam Al Maryati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said public remarks by officials that paint Muslim Americans as a group to fear end up hurting the fight against terrorism.

He said leaders need to see Muslims as “part of the solution” and as “as partners, not as suspects.”

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The panel, which also featured James Featherstone, president of the Homeland Security Advisory Council of Los Angeles, and Brie Loskota, executive director of USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, lasted an hour. When it wrapped up, Clinton posed for photos and talked to supporters as she made her way out of the building.

Outside, a few hundred students stood trying to catch a glimpse of the former first lady before she left to do the Kimmel show.

Ariba Alvi, a masters student at USC who was wearing a T-shirt that said “The Future is Female,” managed to get a photo with Clinton — along with her friend Neha Wadekar.

“This is like meeting the Beatles,” an excited Alvi said.

A Public Policy Institute of Califoia poll released this week showed Sanders trailed her by 7 percentage points, and Clinton’s campaign has continued to urge supporters to donate and not let up despite her large delegate lead.

“I need you on June 7,” she told them.

Alvi voted for Clinton in 2008 against Barack Obama and said she was excited by the chance to do so again.

But first, the candidates will square off in caucuses in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington on Saturday.