On a press call tonight, legal experts analyzed the latest developments in the litigation against President Trump’s second take on an unconstitutional and un-American Muslim and refugee ban.
Tonight, Hawaii U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson froze Trump’s executive order nationwide. We are still awaiting rulings from two other federal cases – one in Maryland and one in Washington state.
Abed A. Ayoub, Esq., Legal and Policy Director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said:
We commend the court on its decision. The Arab and Muslim Ban has had a direct impact on our community members across the world. The fight is not over, we need to continue pushing against the Ban, and hope that the courts will ultimately rule that the actions by this administration are unconstitutional.
Becca Heller, Director and Co-Founder of International Refugee Assistance Project, said:
This ban was a humanitarian travesty; it embodied the administration’s overt Islamophobic sentiment and was very much against the national security interest of the United States. The day after the second travel ban was issued, ISIS actually tweeted ‘victory.’ While Trump claims to be acting in the interest of national security, two of the largest refugee groups blocked under the Executive Order were Iraqis who worked for US government or media organizations and almost 10,000 minor children in Central America who would have been separated from their families. This ruling is an encouraging example of our country restoring its rightful humanitarian treatment towards refugees.
Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of National Immigration Law Center, said:
This is a great moment for our country and an especially victorious moment for immigrants. We are elated that our federal courts have stopped Trump from implementing his discriminatory Muslim ban, another attempt by this administration to use the politics of fear and hate to enact a xenophobic agenda. Once again the rule of law has prevailed. If these policies had been allowed to take effect, our nation’s values would have been forever tarnished. The federal district court showed that no one, not even President Trump, is above the Constitution. Trump’s other proposed and signed Executive Orders are a blueprint that are attempting to redefine who we are as Americans, and we will continue to fight back.
Deepa Iyer, Senior Fellow at Center for Social Inclusion, said:
The decision in Hawaii v. Trump reflects what we already know to be true: that the Muslim ban is a discriminatory policy that separates families, stigmatizes people of the Muslim faith, targets people simply based on where they were born, and creates an environment that leads to bias and hate violence against those targeted by the federal government. The court’s decision also reflects what the resistance movement already knows: Yemeni bodega owners and South Asian cab drivers at JFK, airport lawyers at Dulles, and young Muslim activists have made it clear that we will not accept bans, raids and walls in our communities. This decision is a victory for everyone who stands for dignity and justice.
