American Muslim and Civil Rights Groups Respond to U.S. District Court Injunction Against Muslim Ban 3.0
San Francisco, CA – Today, the U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking the latest version of President Trump’s unconstitutional and discriminatory Muslim Ban, which barred travelers, refugees, and immigrants from the Muslim-majority countries of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, and Somalia.
The temporary restraining order comes just hours before the new ban was set to go into effect and the day before a mass mobilization in Washington, D.C. Tomorrow, on 10/18, thousands of concerned American Muslims and allies will come from all over the country to hold a major #NoMuslimBanEver rally and march in front of the White House, Trump Hotel, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, to protest these types of discriminatory policies that unlawfully target and hurt American Muslim communities. Parallel marches are scheduled to take place in Hawaii, Illinois, and Tennessee.
In response to this news, National Immigration Law Center (NILC), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), MPower Change, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, issued the following statements:
Zahra Billoo, CAIR:
“The American Muslim community is heartened by the district court’s decision to block the Trump Administration’s racist and xenophobic agenda. It is our hope that Muslim Ban 3.0 will be the last iteration of an unconstitutional policy that hurts communities across our country. We will continue to fight until this ban, and all anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant policies are repealed.”
Aarti Kohli, Asian Americans Advancing Justice:
“Today’s news is encouraging to our communities since the current Muslim Ban harms Muslim immigrants, their American families, and refugees who are in grave danger. We hope that both the courts and Americans in general remember other moments in recent history where the government has systematically discriminated against specific groups of people, such as the internment of Japanese Americans and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Our country is better than this, and we will continue to fight with one voice against the Muslim and Refugee Ban.”
Avideh Moussavian, senior staff attorney, NILC:
“The court’s decision clearly shows that the law is on the side of justice. Abusing executive power to discriminate and implement xenophobic and unconstitutional policies to keep people from a specific religion out of the United States is not the kind of country we aspire to be. We will continue to fight for justice not only in our courts but in calling on Congress to repeal the ban and on our communities and the American public to join us in our rally and march tomorrow.”
Linda Sarsour, Co-founder of MPower Change:
“Our communities have been resisting this administration’s policies since day one, and we will continue to hold it accountable both in the courts and in the streets, whether it’s fighting the latest Muslim Ban or back door attempts to discriminate against Muslims and immigrants. That’s why Muslims and allies across the U.S. have risen up this month in more than 70 rallies against this administration’s bigoted policies, and why we will march on Washington tomorrow to declare: #NoMuslimBanEver.”
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The #NoMuslimBanEver campaign, a coalition of national and local civil rights and Muslim advocacy groups, are mobilizing and organizing events around the country to help lead the fight against President Trump’s latest unconstitutional Muslim Ban, as well as other discriminatory immigration policies that criminalize and negatively impact American Muslim communities across the country.