Civil rights advocates in the United States are raising the alarm over a directive signed by President Donald Trump that they say lays the groundwork for another travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries.

The executive order, released on Monday, may also be used to target foreign nationals who are already in the US legally and crack down on international students who advocate for Palestinian rights, experts say.

Deepa Alagesan, a lawyer at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), an advocacy group, said the new order is “bigger and worse” than the “xenophobic” travel ban that Trump imposed on several Muslim-majority countries in 2017 during his first term.

“The worst part of it now, it’s looking to not just ban people outside the US entering the US, but also to use these same rationales as a basis to get people out of the US,” Alagesan told Al Jazeera.

The new order directs administration officials to compile a list of nations “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries”.

It goes further, however. It calls for identifying the number of citizens who entered the US from those countries since 2021 — during Joe Biden’s presidency — and collecting “relevant” information about their “actions and activities”.

The White House then orders “immediate steps” to deport foreign citizens from those countries “whenever information is identified that would support the exclusion or removal”.

Trump’s executive order also says the administration must ensure that foreign citizens, including those in the US, “do not bear hostile attitudes” towards American citizens, culture or government and “do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists”.

Advocates call order ‘scary’

Alagesan warned that the decree, dubbed “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”, could inflict more harm on immigrant families than the 2017 travel restrictions, known collectively as the “Muslim ban”.

She said the order’s vague language is “scary” because it appears to give US agencies broad authority to recommend actions against people whom the administration seeks to target.

“At its core, it’s just another method to keep people out, to get people out, to break up families, to incite fear, to make sure that people know that they are not welcome and that the government will bring its force to bear against them,” Alagesan told Al Jazeera.

Other advocacy groups have also decried the order since its publication.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said the decree goes further than the 2017 “Muslim ban” by giving the government “wider latitude to use ideological exclusion” to deny visas and remove people from the US.

“ADC calls on the Trump administration to stop stigmatizing and targeting entire communities, which only sows division,” the group said in a statement.

“America’s promise of freedom of speech and expression — a principle that President Trump himself has long highlighted — now stands in stark contradiction to his new executive order.”

The Muslim Public Affairs Council also cautioned in a statement that enhancing vetting measures for specific countries risks “functioning as a de facto Muslim ban under the guise of security protocols”.

Maryam Jamshidi, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, said the order appears to revive the travel ban from Trump’s first term, while pushing a right-wing agenda in the broader culture wars.

Parts of the decree also specifically target Palestinians and Palestinian rights supporters, Jamshidi added.

“The right is very invested in continuing this notion that foreigners, people who are Black, brown, Muslim — not white Judeo-Christian, effectively — are threatening ‘real Americans’.”

Jamshidi also said it is not clear how the order would go about deporting people, noting that it is not established whether the immigration law cited gives the administration authority to remove foreign nationals.

The decree relies on a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president power to restrict entry to the US for “any class of aliens” — but not to remove people already here.

“This is probably not a blanket deportation charge,” Jamshidi said. But she warned that the order could lead to further scrutiny against people from those countries and deter political activities — especially Palestinian solidarity — that could be perceived as running afoul of the administration’s guidelines.

Efforts to deport student activists

The order directs US officials to make recommendations to “protect” citizens from foreign nationals “who preach or call for sectarian violence, the overthrow or replacement of the culture on which our constitutional Republic stands, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support for foreign terrorists”.

Jamshidi said the language is “certainly about foreign nationals, including foreign students who are participating in Palestine advocacy”.

With pro-Israel politicians often calling campus activists “pro-Hamas”, Jamshidi said Trump’s edict could be used to target Palestinian rights advocates who are in the US on student visas.

Both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have previously called for deporting international students.

As Palestinian solidarity protests swept the country’s universities following the outbreak of the war on Gaza, Israel’s supporters, especially Republicans, painted student demonstrators as a threat to campus safety.

Rubio led a Senate letter to the Biden administration in October 2023, calling for the removal of international students who participated in protests in support of Palestinians.

The letter drew parallels between student protesters and the 9/11 attackers. It cited “lessons learned on September 11, 2001, when terrorists, many of whom were studying in the United States or had overstayed visas, carried out the deadliest attack on American soil”.

“Sadly, twenty-two years later, our country is witnessing public displays from terrorist sympathizers taking to the streets and condoning Hamas’ brutal attacks against the State of Israel,” the letter read.

The 2024 Republican Party platform also calls for deporting “pro-Hamas radicals” to make college campuses “safe and patriotic again”.

Dima Khalidi, director of the advocacy group Palestine Legal, said it is “clear” that Trump’s recent executive order was crafted to specifically target Palestinian rights supporters.

Critics say the bottom line is that, while Trump’s first “Muslim ban” targeted travelers from several Muslim-majority countries, this order has farther-reaching consequences, including about what it means to be an American.

For example, the decree calls for measures to ensure the “proper assimilation” of immigrants and “promote a unified American identity”.

Jamshidi said the order has “broader implications for all sorts of groups than the initial iterations of the Muslim ban”.

“It’s another salvo in the right’s culture wars,” she said.

Source: Al Jazeera English

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s office confirmed it moved to dismiss the charges against Xavier Roa during a court hearing on Long Island.

“The case was investigated extensively and upon conclusion NCDA determined that the allegations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and moved to dismiss the charges,” spokesperson Nicole Turso said in a statement.

Roa’s lawyer Geoffrey Stewart hailed the decision as a “big victory” for his client and “for civil liberties,” but argued the law itself “should be struck from the books.”

“This case shows that the law can, and in all likelihood will be abused by law enforcement because the law is unconstitutionally vague,” he said in an email.

Stewart has maintained that Roa acted respectfully and complied with officers as he peacefully exercised his constitutionally protected free speech rights during a protest outside an orthodox synagogue in September.

The North Bellmore resident was detained under Nassau County’s Mask Transparency Act, which bans people from wearing masks to conceal their identity in public. It includes exemptions for people who wear masks “for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes.”

The county’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law in August in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year.

Roa, who faced up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge, was the first protester arrested under the ban.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other groups denounced it at the time as proof that the local law was being used as a “silencing tactic” against Palestinian supporters.

Nassau County police said Roa had been attempting to conceal his identity as he led others in pro-Palestinian chants. They also said he told officers he was wearing the scarf in solidarity with Palestinians and not for exempted medical or religious purposes.

In videos showing some of the arrest, Roa wears the keffiyeh around his neck as he’s led away in handcuffs.

Source: The Associated Press

Representing California’s District 12, Lateefah Simon (D-CA) joined an esteemed group of re-elected Muslim representatives, marking a powerful step forward in representation for American Muslims, CAIR said in a statement.

Simon, who currently serves on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board, brings a wealth of experience to Congress.

Her distinguished career includes roles as the Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in the San Francisco Bay Area and as a California State University Board of Trustees appointee under former Governor Jerry Brown.

Her election is a celebrated milestone, expanding the presence of Muslim voices in Congress.

Alongside Simon, CAIR congratulates re-elected Representatives André Carson (D-IN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), all of whom secured decisive victories on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

These victories mark a historic moment, with four American Muslims now serving in Congress.

New Milestone

In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Department Director Robert McCaw emphasized the significance of this milestone.

“Lateefah Simon’s election is a powerful reminder that American Muslims are making strides and finding their voices in the halls of Congress,” McCaw said.

“Especially during a time when many in our community feel the weight of rising Islamophobia. Her presence, alongside Representatives Carson, Tlaib, and Omar, demonstrates our community’s resilience and commitment to justice.

“This achievement should inspire every American Muslim to have faith in their ability to create positive change and to contribute to a more inclusive and just society.”

CAIR has been instrumental in mobilizing the nation’s over 2.5 million registered American Muslim voters, particularly during the final stretch of the election season.

In the days leading up to the election, CAIR sent over 600,000 text messages to remind Muslim voters across the country, including those in critical swing states, of the importance of their vote.

Looking ahead, CAIR is eager to collaborate with the new Congress to advance civil rights, social justice, and peace advocacy initiatives that benefit not only American Muslims but all Americans.

Source: About Islam

The American writer and activist, Jeffery Shaun King, and his wife, Rai King, became Muslims on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan 2024, after delivering a declaration of faith, known as Shahadah, which was posted on the Instagram page Muslimi as well as on King’s official Facebook account. The American couple embraced the new faith under the guidance of US Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman, a friend of King’s for more than a decade.

“Together, we took Shahada and converted to Islam to start off Ramadan. It was a beautiful, powerful, meaningful day for us that we will never forget,” King wrote as he and his wife returned home from evening prayers at a mosque in Dallas, Texas. The American activist added that “we will begin fasting in the morning with over 1 billion Muslims around the world.”

While addressing the crowd, the 44-year-old donned a keffiyeh, a Palestinian head covering, and attributed his decision to the agony, suffering, and trauma that Gaza has endured over the last six months.

“It has touched me in the most profound ways to see people right now in the most dangerous, traumatic place on the planet still be able to sometimes look at nothing but rubble and the remains of their family, and still see meaning and purpose in life,” he remarked.

“Their faith and their devotion to Islam has not only opened my heart but has opened the hearts of millions of people around the world,” said King who has been vocal about his support for Palestine against Israel’s war on besieged Gaza, which has killed at least 31,112 people, mostly children and women, and wounded 72,760 so far.

Since October 7, King regularly shared posts on social media that highlighted the destruction in Gaza and called for an end to Israel’s attacks.

Shaun and Rai King’s Journey Through Islam

In an interview on YouTube, Shaun King shared the story of his wife’s journey through Islam, which marks a significant transition from her lifelong Christian faith.

“People often say like ‘Well Shaun, how did you come to this decision?’ For me more than anything else, it was just the consistent presence of Muslim friends in my life that really caused me to be inquisitive about Islam. It caused me to say how are they like that?

“Two of my best friends in the world are Sheikh Omar Suleiman and sister Linda Sarsour who was an activist in the United States. For the past 10 years they have been two of the most consistent reliable human beings in my universe, so I decided even a few months before I took Shahada, that this is what I wanted to do and so I started speaking to Shaikh Omar and others just to see what this would look like for me.

“When I traveled to Edmonton some brothers gave me copies of the Quran, and let me tell you what happened. A few months before that, in early November, I told my wife that I want to become a Muslim. My wife, who had been a devout Christian her whole life, told me: ‘Shaun, I will never become a Muslim.’ It hurt me a bit, because it made me think if I become a Muslim, it might drive a wedge in my marriage. I’m 44, I’ve been with this woman since I was 15 years old, so I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my marriage.

“A few weeks later when I traveled to Edmonton, I shared [it] with some men including a local Imam there in Edmonton and the brother told me something that was so profound. He said: ‘Shaun, do not try to convince your wife to do this, it’s more likely that you will mess it up than anything else. But I do want you to trust that Allah will guide her heart.’

“When I got home from Edmonton, this is in early January, I laid both copies of the Quran on my dresser, not because I was like low key wanting my wife to find them, I just didn’t want them to get bent up in my suitcase, and I was so exhausted from traveling that I went to bed like at 8:00 p.m. When I woke up, almost 12 hours later, my wife had grabbed one of those copies, and through the night she had already read almost half of the Quran and when I woke up my wife said to me something that was so shocking. She said: ‘Shaun, I think we should become Muslims.’

“There’s a powerful lesson there. Like most Americans, most of what my wife knew about Islam, she learned from places that you don’t want to learn about Islam. If what you know about the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, you learned it from the news, if you learned it from movies, if you learned it from social media, it will be misinformation! And my wife, who’s a an intellectual and a voracious reader, the first thing she said to me was: ‘Shaun, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is not who I thought he was!’ And she was just moved by his life and his example!

“And also, she thought that to become Muslim, it meant you no longer had any reverence for Jesus, and I think, most Christians think that, and it was actually quite the opposite! And when she saw that to be a Muslim still meant to have nothing but reverence and love for the Prophet Jesus, it changed her. And for the next 6 weeks, she and I were on a really beautiful private Journey to make this big move in our lives.”

Dr Rai King announced in an Instagram post her embrace to Islam, too: “This decision has been years in the making for Shaun and I both and was initiated by the deep kindness of our Muslim friends over the years. I’ve been so moved by the Muslim community’s devotion to living out their faith. So many have loved on and supported us through some of the darkest periods of our life. It has always touched my heart, but eventually made me want to know more about what made them so incredibly kind and loving.

“I said for many years that … I would never convert bc I was raised a Christian and loved the church. Truthfully, I still do and always will… After reading and studying for myself, the pillars of the faith and beliefs of Islam surprised me and I discovered that all people of faith have much more in common than we do apart. I see Islam simply as a way for me to more deeply and intentionally connect with God after so many years of feeling lost in my faith.”

King and his wife currently reside in New York with their five children, two of whom were adopted.

Civil Rights Advocacy

The controversial Black Lives Matter activist, Shaun King was the pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2008 to 2011 before becoming a full-time advocate for racial justice. For much of the 2010s he was a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Despite the challenges, King devoted his life to promoting social justice causes, particularly through his writing on civil and human rights, race relations, police brutality, mass incarceration, and law enforcement misconduct.

Over the past few months, he has increasingly focused on the Israel-Hamas war, leading fundraising efforts aimed at helping Palestinian families in Gaza and railing in social media posts against the Israeli ground assault that has killed more than 30,000 people.

He is among those who filed suit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram, which King has accused of banning him from the platform because he was “fighting for Palestine.” Instagram banned King’s account, which had over 6 million followers, in December.

“My heart is with my dearest friends in Gaza and I’m proud that we were able to provide meals tonight to thousands and thousands of families from the North to the South in Gaza and will do so every day of Ramadan,” King wrote in a Facebook post announcing his conversion to Islam.

Source: TRT World

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