Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday that the American people have "big hearts" but cannot "take the risk of refugees."
Trump answered questions before a primarily pro-military crowd in Virginia Beach, Virginia with retired General Michael Flynn, a strong Trump supporter, doing the asking.
Trump said the U.S. could not allow thousands of refugees from the Mideast and South Asia into the country until it knew "what's going on."
He said migrants had been a disaster for Germany and France, because of an increase in crime. But German police have said the numbers of crimes committed by Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are much lower than acts committed by other groups seeking asylum.
Trump accused Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of wanting a 500 percent increase in the number of migrants allowed to enter the country, calling it "unacceptable," and said Clinton and President Barack Obama wanted to treat illegal immigrants better than U.S. military veterans.
He said the nuclear deal Iran signed with the United States and five other world powers turned Iran itself into a "world power" overnight.
He assailed Secretary of State John Kerry for negotiating what he called a "dumb" deal, and said that thanks to what he called incompetence by Obama and Clinton, Iran and Islamic State militants would share Iraq's oil.
Appearing in Tampa, Florida, Clinton said it was Trump who had turned his back on U.S. service members, calling his campaign "one long insult" to those who have worn the uniform to protect American values.
She said Trump-owned companies had fired veterans who took time off to fulfill their military obligations. And she reminded voters of his public feud with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.