--- description: "They would say: Are you Muslim?" title: Here's How Donald Trump Says His Muslim Ban Would Work image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0064968627785ba/69887465f887dc1afde93a3b/donald-trump16.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's How Donald Trump Says His Muslim Ban Would Work by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2015 6:43 PM CUT  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Dec. 2, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Dec. 2, 2015.Andrew Harnik—AP by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2015 6:43 PM CUT Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sought to explain how his [proposed ban on allowing Muslims into the U.S.](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/?xid=homepage "undefined") would work Tuesday during an [interview](http://on.msnbc.com/1XYKPCg "undefined") on MSNBC’s _Morning Joe_, saying he was “using common sense” when calling for limiting Muslims’ entrance into America. MSNBC’s Willie Geist responded to the plan by asking the real estate mogul specifically how the ban would be implemented, noting that passports do not indicate a person’s religion. “A customs agent would ask the person his or her religion?” Giest inquired. “They would say, ‘Are you Muslim?'” Trump replied. “And if they said, ‘yes,’ they would not be allowed in the country?” Geist asked. “That’s correct,” said Trump. The exchange between the _Morning Joe_ hosts and the leading Republican presidential candidate was sometimes tense—at one point, host Joe Scarborough [went to break](http://on.msnbc.com/1IRAWQ7 "undefined") while the business mogul was speaking. “We will go to break if you keep talking. We’re going to ask you questions,” Scarborough said, before cutting to commercials. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4140717/donald-trump-muslim-ban-morning-joe-how-it-would-work/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4140717/donald-trump-muslim-ban-morning-joe-how-it-would-work/"},"headline":"Here's How Donald Trump Says His Muslim Ban Would Work","datePublished":"2015-12-08T18:43:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:12:06.430Z","description":"\"They would say: Are you Muslim?\"","url":"https://time.com/4140717/donald-trump-muslim-ban-morning-joe-how-it-would-work/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election topic","Religion","Muslims","Donald Trump","trump","2016 Republicans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0064968627785ba/69887465f887dc1afde93a3b/donald-trump16.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0064968627785ba/69887465f887dc1afde93a3b/donald-trump16.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4140717/donald-trump-muslim-ban-morning-joe-how-it-would-work/","name":"Here's How Donald Trump Says His Muslim Ban Would Work"}}]}] ```