Despite a mountain of evidence that the Muslim ban executive orders are purpose-built to discriminate against Muslims, the Trump Administration is somehow arguing in court that they’re not. Here are 17 (and counting) pieces of evidence that prove them wrong.
- Candidate Trump called for a Muslim ban over and over and over again.
Following the attack in San Bernardino, California, Trump calls for a “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” He bases this on a confused and distorted claim that “large segments of the Muslim population” favor Islamic law and violence against Americans.
- When challenged by the media, President Trump doubled down on his commitment to banning Muslims.
In a Republican primary debate, moderator Maria Bartiromo asks Trump: “Is there anything you’ve heard that makes you want to rethink this position?” “No,” he says. “We have to stop with political correctness.”
- Countries in the executive order are all 90–99 percent Muslim.
After Trump issues his order, it is observed that every country in the ban is almost entirely Muslim. In fact, all six countries in the ban are more than 90 percent Muslim, according to Pew’s Global Religious Landscape.
- Christian countries that are considered “safe havens” for terrorism somehow are left out of the ban.
In a clear double-standard, predominately Christian countries like Colombia, the Philippines, and Venezuela didn’t make the list even though the State Department has listed them as “safe havens” for organizations designated as terrorist groups.
- President Trump continues to express a preference for Christian refugees over Muslims.
Trump tweets: “Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting … Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!” Trump doesn’t mention Shiite Muslims, who are executed in greater numbers and are less likely than Christians to be admitted to the United States.
- President Trump callously said that America is at war with the entire religion of Islam.
Trump tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “Islam hates us.” Cooper asks: “Is there a war between the West and radical Islam, or between the West and Islam itself?” Trump replies: “It’s very hard to separate, because you don’t know who is who.”
- Rudy Giuliani admitted Trump asked how to legally implement a Muslim ban.
Rudy Giuliani, who acted as an advisor to President Trump throughout his campaign and was a frequent campaign surrogate on cable news programs, explained in an interview that “when [Trump] first announced it he said ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up and said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’
- Even Mike Pence called the Muslim ban unconstitutional.
On 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl reminds Trump that his running mate, Mike Pence, once called a Muslim ban unconstitutional. Trump shrugs: “So you call it territories. OK? We’re gonna do territories. We’re gonna not let people come in from Syria …” Stahl asks: “So not Muslims?” Trump replies: “You know, the Constitution, there’s nothing like it. But it doesn’t necessarily give us the right to commit suicide as a country, OK?”
- When challenged on Meet the Press, Trump admitted that “territories” is just a euphemism for Muslims.
On Meet the Press, Chuck Todd asks whether the territorial ban is a “rollback” of Trump’s position. Trump says no: “In fact, you could say it’s an expansion. I’m looking now at territories. People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. ‘Oh, you can’t use the word Muslim,’ he says, mockingly. ‘But just remember this: Our Constitution is great, but it doesn’t necessarily give us the right to commit suicide, OK?’”
- Trump even promised to add a religious test targeting Muslims to the ban.
Trump extends his proposed crackdown. “In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups,” he says, “we must also screen out any … who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.” This clause taps into a misconception that Muslims who revere religious law, unlike Christians who do the same, can’t accept pluralism. By making such reverence disqualifying, Trump is able to exclude many more Muslims.
- He suggested that mostly Muslim Syrian refugees have “hate in their heart.”
Trump says of Syrian refugees: “We don’t know if they have love or hate in their heart, and there’s no way to tell. We can’t let these people come into our country.” On its face, this statement makes the presumption of unacceptable risk unfalsifiable.
- Trump even doubled down on a religious test.
At a debate, ABC’s Martha Raddatz asks Trump about the Muslim ban: “Was it a mistake to have a religious test?” He doesn’t answer. He says the ban “has morphed into extreme vetting from certain areas of the world.” Raddatz presses: “Would you please explain whether or not the Muslim ban still stands?” Again, Trump refuses to say yes or no. “It’s called extreme vetting,” he says. “We are going to areas, like Syria.”
- When asked if he’d re-evaluate his plan to ban Muslims, President Trump dodged and said “you know my plans.”
In Florida, a reporter asks Trump whether he has decided “to rethink or re-evaluate your plans to create a Muslim registry or ban Muslim immigration to the United States.” Trump replies: “You know my plans. All along, I’ve been proven to be right.”
- Trump admitted Christians would be given priority over Muslims as refugees.
In an interview for the Christian Broadcasting Network, David Brody asks Trump: “The refugee changes you’re looking to make — as it relates to persecuted Christians, do you see them as kind of a priority?” Trump says yes. “If you were a Christian in Syria, it was impossible, at least very tough, to get into the United States,” he says. “If you were a Muslim, you could come in. But if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible.” This characterization is grossly misleading. But Trump concludes that the process “was very, very unfair” to Christians. “So we are going to help them.”
And even worse, the ban unleashed a wave of religious profiling of Muslim American citizens who have no meaningful connection to the banned countries. Even people with Muslim-sounding names are being profiled.
- American Muslims like Muhammad Ali Jr. are being profiled at airports even though they have no meaningful connection to the banned countries.
Muhammad Ali, Jr., a U.S. citizen and the son of the late American icon and boxing legend, was detained and questioned at airports twice since the ban has gone into effect. Ali later said, “I felt just like I felt at my father’s funeral. I didn’t know what to think. I was just dumbfounded.” Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was on the same flight as Ali, and tweeted a photo with Ali saying that, “religiously profiling son of ‘The Greatest’ will not make us safe.”
- Even a non-Muslim former police official was profiled because his name sounds middle eastern.
After the ban went into effect, Hassan Aden, the former deputy police chief of Alexandria, Virginia was detained at JFK Airport. Even though he’s a non-Muslim American citizen, he believes that he was detained because of his name. “This experience makes me question if this is indeed home,” Aden said on Facebook. “My freedoms were restricted, and I cannot be sure it won’t happen again, and that it won’t happen to my family, my children, the next time we travel abroad.”
- After the first ban was signed, Muslim American citizens were mysteriously having the Global Entry status denied or revoked.
One of several stories includes a Muslim American citizen who had already been approved for Global Entry, but after the ban went into effect, had his approval revoked. “The reasoning I received was that I ‘failed to satisfy CBP low-risk status,’” the applicant told the media. “I provided all the right information. I don’t even have a speeding ticket. There’s nothing in my record at all.”
So there you have it. When the Trump Administration says “this isn’t discrimination,” here are 17 (and counting) reasons that they’re flat out wrong.
Do you have any more reasons? Share them with us!
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