CAIR-NY Says Trump‘s New Muslim Ban Order is Part of ‘Ugly White Supremacist Agenda’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(New York, NY, 9/24/17) — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), a leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said today that the latest version of President Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order signed this afternoon is just one part of the administration’s “ugly white supremacist agenda.”

CAIR-NY says that while the new Muslim ban includes more specific restrictions tailored to individual countries, the unconstitutional origin of the policy remains.Trump kept restrictions on five of the six Muslim-majority nations – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen – and added new restrictions on visitors from Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.

“With this latest iteration of the discriminatory and unconstitutional Muslim ban, coupled with the race-baiting of professional athletes exercising their First Amendment rights and a reluctance to condemn neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, President Trump once again demonstrates that his views and policies are part of an ugly white supremacist agenda," said CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher.  “This ugly agenda is nothing new. This is a man who was sued for refusing to rent to African-Americans, who called for the death penalty for five African-American and Hispanic young people falsely accused of rape, who was once quoted as objecting to having African-Americans ‘counting my money,’ who retweeted racist and anti-Semitic material, who called for a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,’ who called Mexican immigrants ‘rapists,’ and who said a judge’s Mexican heritage made him unfit to preside over a case."

“This is also a man who rose to national infamy by leading the ‘birther’ movement, which falsely claimed President Obama was not born in this country," said CAIR-NY Legal Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Perhaps the truest indicator of the president’s white supremacist agenda is the fact that he is embraced by racists, Islamophobes, neo-Nazis, and bigots of all stripes who see his views as reflecting their own. Ten months after his election, instead of promoting the values that lifted up this nation, Donald Trump is still pandering to an extremist base that considers itself superior to other Americans.  These hard truths must now be faced by all Americans, who -- as individuals -- need to decide if they are on the side of traditional American aspirations of religious and racial inclusion, or if they envision a ‘Trump’ America in which members of only one group dominate and reap the benefits of citizenship.”

Earlier this week, CAIR announced the filing of an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of seven American Muslims opposing the Trump administration’s original Muslim ban and urging the court to declare it unconstitutional.

READ CAIR’s Amicus Brief:

In its brief, CAIR argued that the seven American Muslim citizens “have seen increased discrimination, hate speech, and threats of violence as a result of the anti-Muslim animus that underpins” the Muslim ban. [NOTE: Those listed in the amicus brief (“amici”) are represented by CAIR and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.]

That brief was the latest CAIR legal filing on the Trump administration’s efforts to implement its Muslim ban.  CAIR previously filed two amicus briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

SEE: CAIR Files Amicus Brief with 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’

CAIR Files Amicus Brief in the Ninth Circuit on Behalf of Four American Muslims Impacted by Muslim Ban 3.0

Community members are asked to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR-NY at (646) 665-7599, or by filing a report at: https://www.cair-ny.org/incident-report/

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprensión mutua.

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