Issue:

5 Years Later, Muslim Ban Still Looms Over American Muslims

Washington, DC — Thursday, Jan. 27, will mark five years since President Donald Trump enacted the Muslim Ban. Muslim Advocates along with Lofti Legal LLC and Perkins Coie LLP sued the administration on behalf of Muslims who were denied visas. The organization also worked with congressional offices, including Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), to support the NO BAN Act, a bill that would prevent future presidents from enacting another Muslim Ban or similar, discriminatory bans. 

The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Senior Policy Counsel Sumayyah Waheed:

“Though it has been five years since President Trump enacted the Muslim Ban and just over one year since it was rescinded, the threat of a future ban still looms over American Muslims and the harms from the rescinded Bans continue to affect thousands of still-separated families. We are grateful to President Biden for taking immediate action to end the ban but there is more he can and must do right now to reunite families and undo Donald Trump’s un-American, anti-immigrant policies.

With the stroke of a pen, the president can clear away regulations and red tape still left over from Trump and Stephen Miller’s time in the White House that were designed to hurt immigrants and keep them out of the country. The Biden administration must summon the political courage to reject anti-immigrant politics by granting visas to families still separated by the Muslim Ban and returning the U.S. State Department, including consular offices, to their original mission to help families in need, not discourage them.

The Senate must also act now to clear away the specter of the Muslim Ban. Though President Biden ended the ban through executive action, another president could just as easily revive it and even enact similar bans targeting other marginalized people. This threat is not just a hypothetical. Recent anti-Muslim attacks from Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene—as well as the Republican leadership’s total failure to repudiate this dangerous hate—prove that the same anti-Muslim politics that helped propel Donald Trump to the White House are alive and well. That is why Congress must pass the NO BAN Act, a necessary bill that would close dangerous loopholes in our immigration laws by preventing future presidents from enacting another Muslim ban or other immigration bans based on faith or nationality. A bipartisan House majority already passed the bill; now the Senate must do the same before it’s too late.”

Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination. 

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