Trump’s Unconstitutional Program of Anti-Muslim Discrimination

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By Cecilia Wang

In 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish refugees, were turned away from the port of Miami and sent back to Europe. Of those passengers, 254 were murdered in the Holocaust. The U.S. government turned away those refugees, so heartbreakingly close to safety—and also restricted Jewish immigration and instituted new vetting procedures—because of rampant overblown fears that the Nazis might smuggle spies and saboteurs in among the Jewish refugees.

Yesterday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, The White House put out a statement that failed to mention the 6 million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis. Hours later, President Trump signed an executive order suspending all refugee resettlement for 120 days and indefinitely suspending the resettlement of refugees from Syria. In addition to banning Syrian refugees, the president ordered a ban all entries of the nationals of seven majority-Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen, for 90 days, and provided that the ban might be extended and that additional countries might be added to that list.

Trump’s executive order is a major step toward carrying out his campaign threat to ban the admission of Muslims into the United States. Tellingly, today’s order authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to admit refugees on a “case-by-case” basis, notwithstanding the 120-day suspension, for people of a minority religion in their home countries.  Trump announced during his press conference that his order will help Christians to enter the United States.

In effect, Trump has barred Muslims from entering the United States, while favoring the entry of Christians.

One of the tenets upon which our country was founded is that religion is our own business and not the government’s. We have freedom of belief. We do not have religious litmus tests for participation in society. Trump’s order is anathema to those founding principles.  It violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from preferring or disfavoring any religion. Trump’s anti-Muslim policy also violates the Equal Protection Clause, the part of the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees that everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law.

Trump’s orders are immoral as well as unconstitutional. He is barring the entry of modern-day counterparts of the passengers of the St. Louis — children injured in Syria’s terrible and brutal civil war, who are at imminent risk of being killed. And Trump’s order is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who uphold our best traditions of welcoming the stranger seeking refuge.

Trump’s policy is also foolish. Former senior U.S. military commanders, diplomats, and homeland security officials, both Democrats and Republicans, have publicly stated that a block on refugees from Syria and other Muslim countries is contrary to U.S. security interests because it feeds the ISIS narrative that there is a war between Islam and the West and that Muslims are not welcome in the United States.

Moreover, as demonstrated in ACLU litigation last year, only the most vulnerable Syrian refugees are resettled in the United States and that only occurs after vigorous security screening by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Defense Department, the State Department, and US Customs and Border Protection.

Among those who may barred from entering the United States is Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Iraqi man who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. According to Brandon Friedman, a former Obama administration official who commanded a platoon during the invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi “spent years keeping U.S. soldiers alive in combat in Iraq.” He arrived at New York’s JFK airport on Friday evening and was detained.

The ACLU along with the International Refugee Assistance Project, the National Immigration Law center and Yale Law School’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, as well as the firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, filed suit early this morning. We are a diverse society, built largely on the sweat and ingenuity of immigrants and refugees.

American Muslims, immigrants and U.S.-born alike, are part of the fabric of this nation and part of what makes America great.  As U.S. businesses, investors, and universities have pointed out, American Muslims are our neighbors, friends, and colleagues. They are us. Trump’s ban separates American families and deprives our country of the contributions that these newcomers, and their children and grandchildren, will make as Americans.

Nearly 80 years ago, U.S. government officials, backed by the deliberately stoked fears of refugees, turned refugees away at our shores and sent men, women, and children back to their deaths. Today, Americans look back in shame at that moral, political, and legal failure—even as our president repeats the mistakes of the past. We are better than today’s executive order, and we must rise up and insist that America live up to our best ideals and not our worst fears.

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Disclaimer: the views expressed by guest writers are strictly those of the author and may not reflect the views of the Vanguard, its editor, or its editorial board.

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14 thoughts on “Trump’s Unconstitutional Program of Anti-Muslim Discrimination”

  1. Tia Will

    the views expressed by guest writers are strictly those of the author and may not reflect the views of the Vanguard, its editor, or its editorial board.”

    While this is certainly true, as an individual and as one member of the editorial board, I want to make clear my complete agreement with this author.

    Shame on the current president and his advisors. Shame on those who voted for or otherwise supported the current president who was clear about his callous xenophobic intent prior to election. And shame on me and those like myself who did not work long enough or hard enough to keep this blight on our constitutional values from ever stepping foot in the White House.

  2. Jaroslaw Waszczuk

    Among those who may barred from entering the United States is Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Iraqi man who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. According to Brandon Friedman, a former Obama administration official who commanded a platoon during the invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi “spent years keeping U.S. soldiers alive in combat in Iraq.” He arrived at New York’s JFK airport on Friday evening and was detained.

    Hameed Khalid Darweesh was released . 
    Reuters

    WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is creating a list of Iraqi’s who have worked alongside the United States which will be passed to agencies responsible for implementing President Trump’s executive order which restricts entry for people from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries, a spokesman said on Monday.
    “We have been provided the opportunity by the White House to submit names and we are working forward to do that,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.
    Trump’s order suspending travel, which he signed on Friday, has prompted angry reactions in Iraq, where more than 5,000 U.S. troops are deployed to help Iraqi and regional Kurdish forces in the war against ISIS.

     

     

  3. Jaroslaw Waszczuk

    In effect, Trump has barred Muslims from entering the United States, while favoring the entry of Christians.

    I would favor Christians to get them out from the Iraq and Syria firs  if I would be President of the United States . Christians in Iraq and Syria are the primary ISIS targets to be kill and they have nowhere to go. This simple to understand . Saudi Arabia could take all Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq. However , how  it is possible for  this richest country in the Middle East provide  shelter for the Muslim’s  brothers and sisters if  the Saudi Arabia is slaughtering Yemenis because they are Shia’s  Muslims .

    Question is how many  refugees America can or  should take from  Syria and Iraq. Turkey and  Europeans countries are flooded with millions of refugees .  The gesture of taking 1000 or 2000 people is not the solution .  The solution is the stopping  the wars in Iraq , Syria and Yemen and give the relief for millions of suffering people .  Is hard to believe that Turkey as a NATO member and the country which   has border with Iraq and Syria did take care of businesses in Syria  having a very strong military forces .  It is appear that Russia dictates status quo in Syria and nobody could do anything about . Lot of talk , more bombs on Syrian cities and President Trump is blamed for all evil and hell  on the Planet Earth .

    1. Howard P

      Jerry… meant as a friendly observation… in Syria, and perhaps in Iraq, it is not about religion right now, as much as power… once they have power (pray that won’t happen), watch out as to religion… it appears that they shoe-horned on the anti-Assad fervor, but they seem to be as comfortable (perhaps more so) killing/terrorizing other anti-Assad Muslims (who want nothing todo with a caliphate, and pro-Assad Muslims… Christians are probably low on the list, as there are too few to mess with while there are ‘other fish to fry’… if ISIS/ISIL gets real power (the ‘caliphate’), yeah, they’d go after the Christians first, but right now, it’s all about “power”… and terrorism is how they seek it.

      ISIS/ISIL appears to be a ‘cult’… a well armed, strategic cult… Jim Jones portrayed himself as a Christian (God will judge that!) .  Is it right to blame Christians for Jonestown or Waco? [yeah, I can just hear the atheists shouting out why religion should be washed off the face of the earth]

      My impression is that the whole thing is inter-nicene in Syria, more based on power, but with a ‘religious spin’…

      1. Tia Will

        Howard

        I can just hear the atheists shouting out why religion should be washed off the face of the earth]”

        Auditory hallucinations I suspect. Most of those with whom I am acquainted who do not adhere to any of the major world religions do not want “religion washed off the face of the earth”. Most of us ( and no, I am not an atheist, but know plenty of people who do not believe in an anthropomorphic god) just want to be left alone and not have our fate, medical care, laws or education dictated by any religion, be it Muslim, Jewish, Christian …..or any other. The statement that “we are a Christian nation” is just as chilling to me as it would be to hear someone promoting Sharia law. Governance by theocracy is just that and no better to come from one religion vs another from my point of view.

        1. Jaroslaw Waszczuk

          Tia

          Whats is wrong with  the :Christian nation .  Majority are  Christians in USA .  Saudi Arabia is saying ” We are Muslim Nation and other Muslim countries as well describing themselves as Muslim nations . They   have religious  minorities but everybody have to follow the same law there  . Saying that we are Christian nation does not mean that you will be “witch hunted “.  We have  religion separation from government  but it does not mean that I have to say  Happy Holidays instead of Merry  Christmas .  Muslim nations are not such polite and liberal like  the  Christian nations are  You know that but you are raising hell about nothing .

          What you are taking about stating ” just want to be left alone and not have our fate, medical care, laws or education dictated by any religion, be it Muslim, Jewish, Christian …..or any other. ”  

          I lived in communist country and priests were coming to public school to teach religion and communist government allowed it  because even communist knew that churches and religion is something where you can learn moral values .  You jumping like somebody dumped bucket  of the boil water on you .

          Read the Jerusalem Post article how Mussolini’s  fascists were protecting Jews during WW II because of their religion .
          CATHOLIC ITALY’S ‘PROMISED LAND’
          BYBENJAMIN GLATT
           23 JANUARY 2017 08:32
           
           
          The Italians ‘habitually used the language of Christian virtue,’ disassociating themselves from the Nazis.
          http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Catholic-Italys-Promised-Land-479317

          1. David Greenwald

            Saudia Arabia doesn’t have a first amendment that prohibits the establishment of a religion

        2. Jaroslaw Waszczuk

          David

          What are you talking about .?   When I look at One Dollar banknote and  I read  ” In God We Trust ”  I love it   Don’t you  use the the dollars ?  The In God We Trust ” is the one of the symbols reminds everybody that the  United States of America  still  the Christians Nation .  The President Trump was sworn using Abraham Lincoln Bible .  I am living in little town of Lodi town where is  20 Christian Churches and some have the private Christian   Elementary and  the Highs Schools . If I see that Lodi has 20 Mosques instead of Christian churches  than I will move back to Poland . This is such simple to understand.  Nobody is establishing religion in the United States . This country was build on by the  Judeo -Christianity principles and non discrimination of other religious groups . I read in one of your article that you are Jewish . What congregation do you belong ?

          1. Don Shor

            The United States is a secular republic. We are not a Christian nation, though a majority of Americans identify as Christians. The presence of In God We Trust on the coins has a long history, but was not actually mandated until the 1950’s. The courts have upheld the motto being on the currency specifically on the grounds that it is not religious.

            “It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency ‘In God We Trust’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise.” The decision was cited in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, a 2004 case on the Pledge of Allegiance. These acts of “ceremonial deism” are “protected from Establishment Clause scrutiny chiefly because they have lost through rote repetition any significant religious content”.

            I’m glad it makes you happy. Some non-religious people find it offensive, and many secular people find it odd and annoying to have to use currency that declares a religious belief that they, as Americans, don’t share.
            Debates about the role of religion in our public lives go all the way back to the founding fathers. Imposition of a religious test for admittance to the United States goes against our values. In fact, the Trump administration has made every effort to assert that this is not a religious test. But it is de facto if not de jure, and their assertions are (as usual) undercut by the specific utterances of Trump himself in calling for giving priority to Christians applying for refugee status.

        3. Jaroslaw Waszczuk

          Don

          You believe whatever  you like to believe . I am  not ACLU member . You may call David comrade David . I don’t care . I know you guys what you stand for  and your sermons . If you like to change your name from  Don to Abdul or Ibrahim , go for .

      2. Howard P

        John and Tia… so impressed that you can focus on one parenthetical statement, and ignore the substance… truly amazing and informative… reminds me of the guy/gal under the bridge… my bad if I was gruff…

        Yet, I defer to your obvious superiority and wisdom… and moving the football on this topic forward… I am truly humbled by your incisiveness on the topic… thank you!

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