As news of the Muslim travel ban of seven Muslim-majority countries— Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iran— hit the community, mothers of newborn babies were scared to visit grandparents, sons mourned mothers but can't go bury them, Fulbright scholars cannot resume their studies, fiancees and spouses are breaking their hearts imagining a life without each other. What would you do? Wait it out; get divorced?
International students are asking if universities will accept students from those countries? The Executive Order originally banned nationals and U.S. legal permanent residents (LPR’s – green card holders) from seven countries from entering the United States. After intense pressure of protests and lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)- the White House has backtracked on the ban applying to green card holders.
On Friday, several national conference calls between immigration lawyers, civil rights leaders, activists and organizers culminated in a push at every major city across the country from New York and Houston.
The Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington DC was packed with volunteers and supporters on Saturday, January 28, 2017. Abed Ayoub, the Executive Director, was using every tool available to keep the Arab and Muslim community informed of the very chaotic changes as they changed minute by minute.
The community is asking which country is next as the Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus said Sunday, hinted at expanding the ban on CBS News.
Zainab Chaudry of CAIR-MD shares a story of a Maryland Iranian national who was told by his attorney not to leave the country to attend his mother’s funeral. Sadaf and her husband, a Pakistani green card holder has tickets booked for Umrah from Dulles, with her 4 American children. She has heard stories of children being separated from parents and is scared to fly. To quell rumors and give the community some tips, CAIR- MD, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and Prince George’s County Muslim Council held back to back townhalls at the Muslim Community Center, Prince George’s County Muslim Association.
Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the intent of the executive order was ‘very much’ a ban on ‘Muslims’ and he was among the people Trump asked how they could find a way to do this legally. Giuliani said he put together a commission that included lawmakers and expert lawyers. "And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger," Giuliani said. "The areas of the world that create danger for us, which is a factual basis, not a religious basis. Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible." Except that not one of the countries targeted has had a citizen kill an American on American soil since 1975, according to a tally by CATO institute, a conservative think tank. But each country is a target for U.S. bombs in the ‘War on Terror’.
Many questions concerning immigration were asked at the townhalls showcasing the range of concern. Many LPRs wondered if they should apply for citizenship. Abed Ayoub of the ADC advised that, “[other] immigration processes are going as is until the orders are signed and changes are implemented.”
He was not sure about the impact it would have on the green card holders from these nations. He feared that the process will stop as well. Uzaz Shami is currently stuck in Addis Ababa, trying to get home to Washington, DC. “I’m separated from my 77 year old mother. She is my home and I’m hers. I cannot stop thinking of thousands [of people] having this piercing pain I have in my chest, when my darkest thoughts get hold of me,” she shared with Sudanese -American writer Hind Makki.
“U.S. citizens are okay to come and go as they please,” he added. However dual nationals of the targeted countries will be denied entry. A citizen of France and Sudan, and traveling on a French Passport, will be denied entry. He also advised non citizens from these countries _currently in the United States—to not travel without consulting an immigration attorney.
Ayoub says that this is like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program, which took 15 years to dismantle.
Abed Ayoub says that permanent residents or green card holders outside the country should consult an immigration attorney. “Everything is on a case by case basis,” reiterated Ayoub. If you do plan to travel back to the US, you should fill out a USCIS G-28 form first that officially appoints an attorney to represent you in immigration situations and have that completed form with you as you board your flight.
‘Do not sign Form 1-407’— a message popped up on a mom’s group for Northern Virginian Muslim mothers. This is a tactic being used by some customs and border patrol officers to coerce incoming permanent residents to give up their residencies.
With the resignation of the top brass of the State Department, the Department of Homeland security will not stand with the court- continue with ban and disrespect court. “They were playing with words speaking about the language of press release,” shared Beydoun.
Spontaneous protests erupted at major airports across the country, including Baltimore. More than 2000 people turned up the Baltimore Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) in support —though there were no refugees or detainees at the airport.
“All walls got to go - from Pakistan to Mexico,” chanted protesters, including a Hasidic Jew holding a ‘ahlan wa sahlan’ sign in Arabic cursive. “I’m here to support refugees and to refute this president,” said James, as he stood at the international terminal at BWI.
Many people do not understand the need to protest, but protests at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) highlights how effective organizing can affect change. After 48 hours of protesting and shutting SFO down and [all] detainees have been officially released’, shares Fatima el Mekkaoui, a community organizer. Protesters included Google’s co-founder Sergiy Berin, who is a Russian refugee.
On Monday, January 30, 2017, Muslims on the Hill received word that New York Senator Chuck Schumer is asking Congress to step in and stop the ban. Jameel Johnson of the Prince George’s County Muslim Council, reminds the nascent and sluggish Muslim community that Senator Schumer will need bipartisan support to bring the bill up for votes- that means he will need 12 Republicans. Organizers started a campaign to people with Republican senators call their offices. Marylanders were urged to call Sen. Van Hollen and Cardin to ask them to openly support and speak in favor of Sen Schumer's bill.
Maryland based Muslims urged friends in Texas and Louisiana to call or visit their Senator’s offices. "I oppose the anti-Muslim and anti-refugee executive order. Please vote to rescind this order,” a 9-year-old called Ted Cruz’s office, with his mother.
Also included in the executive is language that stalls the Syrian refugee resettlement program for a period of three months.
Legal permanent residents should apply for citizenship, suggested the attorneys. “The language doesn’t match the law,” suggestions to give that association- pro bono work- what advice can I give to them for travel for pro bono work. “Don’t go yet,” says Beydoun to the MCC audience.
At MCC in Silver Spring. Md., George Leventhal of Montgomery County committed to a legal defense fund to fight immigration cases for county members. ‘No Ban no wall morphed into no Bannon, no wall’, as news of Trump’s Chief Strategist Steve Bannon getting a permanent seat on the National Security Council was passed from protesters to protesters in front of the White House in Washington D.C. on the same Sunday afternoon.
The travel ban will also impact Hajj and Umrah travel, with immigration attorneys cautioning non-citizens not to travel.
“The intention behind this bill is to indict all mainstream Muslims in America with Islamism and to conflate non-violent political Islamism with ISIS type terrorism. This is an erroneous claim and they know it is. The intention is to create a global and domestic situation where a war against Islam is barely distinguishable from a war against 'radical Islam,” says Daniel Tutt.
“This ban is the first of many Islamophobic policies still to come,” Beydoun said, who is also a frequent commentator on anti-Muslim bigotry.
At Dulles Airport where lawyers in yarmulkes and hijabs left work on Friday and came to donate their time to file habeas corpus applications for detainees. After 8 hours of protesting, wheelchairs of a 71 year old Iranian man, a permanent resident with a heart condition, and his wife, came out to the arms of their loved ones to chants of ‘This is what America looks like’.
Najib Abdi’s cousin, name withheld, was detained at Dulles, handcuffed and detained with her two U.S. citizen children for 20 hours— without food. “They called her husband’s phone number, saying that we have your family here at the airport. You come and get your kids, otherwise all of them [will go] back to Africa,” he shared with ABC news.
Ibrahim Moiz is one of the several Muslim and non Muslim attorneys working on the cases.
Senator Tim Kaine spoke out forcefully against the executive order, which has caused widespread confusion and distress in Virginia and across the United States, and joined U.S. Senator Mark Warner to demand answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kelly.
The federal agency under DHS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deflected a federal judge’s court order and blocked three members of Congress.
Hassan Ahmed is an immigration attorney based in McLean, Virginia. After hours of negotiations, he says that he was wary of trusting ICE and CBP agents under President Obama. “I've been hung up on, dismissed, lied to, and tricked more times than I care to admit. What I saw yesterday, however, brought back every bad memory I've ever had working in immigration. It reminded me of the NSEERS days, with mass confusion, no one knowing who or what would be affected, and stone-faced agents who simply repeated words like, "I can't open the door," like so many robots,” he says. He recalled his asylum cases, where clients would share stories about checkpoints, registration, being targeted, being told different things by different officials, ‘about the law simply not working, except this was Virginia, minutes from my home’. Exact numbers for people detained at Dulles are hard to determine, say attorneys at the scene, but according to a disembarking passenger, 16 people of Somali and Sudanese descent were pulled out of line and presumably detained, shares Ahmed. The numbers may be higher. Attorneys at Dulles learned that detainees were provided with a copy of Judge Brinkema’s order and a paper listing contact information for pro bono immigration attorneys based in Northern Virginia.
The official number of people stopped and at the borders is unclear. “185 is a number floating around on the internet,” offered Ayoub to the crowd at MCC, “but there are a number more who were not allowed to board.”
“Everything is unclear.”
Civil Rights Lawyer Hassan Shibly advises that American citizens do not have to stop for secondary questioning after entering the country and not required to give CBP your cellphone password or unlock it.
An immigration attorney was stopped at the Canadian border. She was shaking as she conveyed her ordeal. “My husband and I were kept for four hours trying to cross back into the U.S. from Canada after having dinner with my in-laws. I am a US citizen. My husband is a Canadian citizen and LPR. They searched all our stuff including our phones, asked us a million questions and finally just let us go after they got a "call."
In the final word on this ban is the African Union’s response: "You took our people as slaves but now reject them as refugees”.
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