April 17, 2018
Issue: Muslim Ban
Muslim Advocates Releases Deep-Dive Report into Trump’s Muslim Ban: “Total and Complete Shutdown”
“How the Trump Administration is Working to Ban Muslims from the United States”
Available for download at www.TotalandCompleteShutdown.com
Washington, DC – Ahead of the Supreme Court oral arguments in Trump vs. State of Hawaii – the lawsuit against President Trump’s long-promised Muslim Ban – Muslim Advocates released a report analyzing the effects and implications of the ban and the great lengths that the administration has taken to circumvent the Constitution.
According to the report, Trump’s White House has successfully “designed and implemented an unprecedented, thorough, and sophisticated effort to stigmatize Muslims, vilify Islam, and circumvent the Constitution’s promise of freedom from religious discrimination.”
According to Johnathan Smith, legal director of Muslim Advocates, “What was once discriminatory, racist, and bigoted campaign rhetoric is now the policy of the United States of America. Policy and practices that are separating American families; depriving our economy of medical professionals, tourism dollars, skilled workers, and promising academics; jeopardizing the lives and safety of millions; and diminishing America’s global standing.”
As the report outlines, in addition to vigorously defending the Muslim Ban in court, the administration has been hard at work behind the scenes to enact a web of policies and practices across a range of federal agencies, all with the goal of restricting the entry of Muslims into the country.
They include:
- Abusing executive authority on immigration and refugee policy by hiding many barriers and their official justifications under shrouds of secrecy;
- Implementing a complicated, intrusive, and opaque set of hurdles to visa approvals for Muslims seeking to enter the United States;
- Widespread harassment and discrimination of travelers who are or are perceived to be Muslim;
- Significant decline in both visa issuance and immigration and refugee admissions to persons from Muslim countries in the first year of the Trump presidency; and
- Creating such a toxic atmosphere that many Muslims—even those who do not come from one of the countries directly impacted by the Muslim Ban—are shut out or deterred from even trying to travel to the United States.
According to Sirine Shebaya, senior staff attorney for Muslim Advocates, “As our nation prepares for the Supreme Court’s long-awaited hearing on the Muslim Ban, we hope that this report helps remind the justices and the American people of the grave injustice and harm this administration’s anti-Muslim policies, including the ban, have caused.”
Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.
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