Today, Donald Trump issued a statement, calling for a shutdown of Muslim immigration to the U.S. Following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, responding to this news:
“Americans, at our core, believe we judge people based on what they do and what they contribute rather than on the God they worship, the color of their skin, the country of their birth or the accent they speak with. That’s why what Donald Trump is proposing is fundamentally un-American and politically unacceptable.
“We are a nation of immigrants founded in large part by refugees fleeing religious persecution. They sought freedom of religion as well as other fundamental freedoms, anchored in our shared humanity rather than our differences. The idea of turning on people because of their religious background would make our Founding Fathers turn in their graves.
“Trump’s vile rhetoric represents a creeping neo-fascism that is taking hold in our great democracy. He plucked this radical proposal from the fever swamps of the far right, and it is up to all people of good will to denounce this rank bigotry so that the message goes out throughout the country and throughout the world that this kind of hatred has no space to thrive in America. We should isolate terrorism and it’s practitioners, not our nation and its core values.”
