Donald Trump's comments 'disqualify him from presidency', White House says

The U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," immigrants and visitors alike, has drawn harsh criticism from politicians worldwide, including the White House.

Trump's comments disqualify him from presidency, White House said on Tuesday.

"What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

He called on the rest of the Republican candidates to declare they will not support Trump if he wins the party's nomination.

"If they are so cowed by Mr. Trump and his supporters that they're not willing to stand by the values enshrined in the Constitution, then they have no business serving as president of the United States themselves," Earnest said.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, tweeted: "Declaring war on Islam or demonizing Muslim Americans is not only counter to our values -- it plays right into the hands of terrorists."

"Donald Trump is standing on the platform of hate, and, I'm sorry to say, hate that the Republican Party has built for him," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who is a Democrat.

The Democratic mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, Rick Kriseman, said in a tongue-in-cheek tweet that he was barring Trump from visiting the city.

"I am hereby barring Donald Trump from entering St. Petersburg until we fully understand the dangerous threat posed by all Trumps," Kriseman wrote.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in a post on Twitter, said "Mr. Trump, like others, is feeding hatred and misinformation. Our only enemy is radical Islam."

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron called Trump's comments "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong."

Toronto city councillor, Josh Matlow said in a tweet that Donald Trump's name should be removed from the city's Trump Tower.

"I believe the owners of Toronto's Trump Tower should change its name. Toronto is a diverse & respectful city," one of Matlow's tweets read.

Two international refugee organizations rejected Trump's comments, saying the U.S. presidential campaign rhetoric threatens resettlement efforts.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), voiced worries that vulnerable refugees could be put at risk by the inflammatory remarks.

"We are concerned that the rhetoric that is being used in the election campaign is putting an incredibly important resettlement program at risk that is meant for the most vulnerable people - the victims of the wars that the world is unable to stop," she said at a news conference in Geneva.

Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said: "Prejudice or discrimination based on religion is totally against every convention that we know of in aiding people in humanitarian emergencies and of course in resettlement."

Scottish National Party's trade and investment spokeswoman, MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, said she believed that Donald Trump should be refused entry to the U.K. as his comments have risen to "hate preaching".