Trump’s decree paves the way for a “Muslim ban” and targets pro-Palestine students | Muslim ban news

Washington DC – Civil rights advocates in the United States have sounded the alarm over the directive signed by the president Donald Trump They say it lays the groundwork for another travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries.

the Executive orderExperts say the letter, released Monday, may also be used to target foreign nationals already in the United States legally and to crack down on international students who advocate for Palestinian rights.

Deepa Alagesan, an attorney with 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 many people. Muslim majority countries In 2017 during his first term.

“The worst thing about it now is that he is not only looking to prevent people outside the United States from entering the United States, but also using those same justifications as a basis to take people out of the United States,” Alagiesan told Al Jazeera.

The new order directs administration officials to compile a list of countries “for which screening and vetting information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or complete suspension of admissions of citizens of those countries.”

However, it goes further than that. It calls for determining the number of citizens who have entered the United States from those countries since 2021 – during Joe Biden’s presidency – and collect “relevant” information about their “business and activities”.

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

Trump’s executive order also states that the administration must ensure that foreign nationals, including U.S. residents, “do not harbor hostile attitudes” toward U.S. citizens, culture, or the U.S. government and “do not defend, assist, or support designated foreign terrorists.” They support them.”

Lawyers describe it as “scary”

Alagesan warned that the decree, which he called “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other Threats to National Security and Public Safety,” could do more harm to the United States. Immigrant families Compared to the 2017 travel restrictions, collectively known as the “Muslim ban.”

She said the order’s vague language is “frightening” because it appears to give U.S. agencies broad authority to recommend action against people the administration seeks to target.

“It’s essentially just another way to keep people out Get people out“Separating families, inciting fear and making sure people know they are not welcome and that the government will use its power against them,” Al-Ajesan told Al Jazeera.

Other advocacy groups have also denounced 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 “broader latitude to use ideological exclusion” to deny visas and remove people from the United States.

“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 Freedom of expression The expression — a principle that President Trump himself has long highlighted — now stands in stark contrast to his new executive order.

The Islamic Public Affairs Council also warned in a statement that strengthening vetting procedures for certain countries could lead to “acting as a de facto Muslim ban under the guise of security protocols.”

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

Parts of the decree also specifically target Palestinians Supporters of Palestinian rightsJamshidi added.

“The right is deeply invested in perpetuating this idea that foreigners, and people who are black, brown, and Muslim — not white Christian Jews, actually — threaten ‘real Americans.’”

“The most horrific act possible”

In 2018, many American media outlets reported this Trump told his aides The United States should accept more immigrants from places like Norway instead of people from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries, which he called “despicable countries.”

Many right-wing politicians — including Trump’s current vice president, J.D. Vance — have embraced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits that there is an effort to replace native-born Americans with immigrants.

Trump’s latest order warns against foreign nationals in the United States who seek to undermine or replace American culture.

However, experts say it is unlikely to be used as a means of mass deportation.

“It gives orders to agencies to use the full range of legal frameworks and loopholes to essentially take the most heinous action possible to remove people who President “He decided he didn’t want to be here,” Alajesan said.

“However, there are still laws that limit the grounds on which someone can be deported, and there are protections available to people subject to deportation proceedings.”

Jamshidi also said that it is not clear how the order on deporting people will be implemented, noting that it has not been confirmed whether the aforementioned immigration law gives the administration the authority to deport foreign nationals.

The decree is based on a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president the power to restrict the entry of “any class of aliens” into the United States — but not to remove people who are already here.

“This may not be a comprehensive deportation charge,” Jamshidi said.

But she warned that the order could lead to greater scrutiny against people from those countries and prevent political activities – especially Palestinian solidarity – that could be seen as going against 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 upon which our constitutional republic is based, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support to foreign forces.” “Terrorists.”

Jamshidi said the language “certainly relates to foreign citizens, including foreign students who participate in the defense of Palestine.”

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

Both Trump and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio They have previously called for the deportation of international students.

While Palestinian solidarity protests swept The country’s universities In the wake of the outbreak of war on Gaza, supporters of Israel, especially Republicans, portrayed student demonstrators as a threat to campus safety.

Rubio led a letter to the Senate to Biden administration In October 2023, calls for the deportation of international students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

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

“Sadly, 22 years later, our country is witnessing public displays of terrorist sympathizers taking to the streets and condoning Hamas’s brutal attacks against the State of Israel,” the letter said.

The GOP’s 2024 platform also calls for the deportation of “pro-Hamas extremists” to make the campus “safe and patriotic again.”

‘Wider implications’

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

She added that although the decree does not define Israel, pro-Israel groups are trying to portray criticism of the US ally as not only anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic but as “un-American.”

“We have to connect this regime to the broader ideological imposition that is happening and part of the larger purge that Trump seems very intent on implementing,” Al-Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

She said the Trump administration seeks to use broad discretion in immigration law to suppress supporters of Palestinian rights because of their opinions and circumvent freedom of expression rights.

“They actually paint a picture for people of what is acceptable and what is not; What is American and what is not; Al-Khalidi told Al Jazeera: “What is patriotic and what is not patriotic.”

Critics say the bottom line is that while Trump’s first “Muslim ban” targeted travelers from many Muslim-majority countries, this one has far-reaching consequences, including what the Muslim ban means. Be an American.

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

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

“It’s another shot in the right-wing culture wars,” she told Al Jazeera.