Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:53 pm
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is hammering President Donald Trump for imposing a religious test on fleeing refugees through his Muslim ban executive order.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) tweeted:
Donald Trump's executive order today establishes a religious test for those coming from certain Muslim countries. Period.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 28, 2017
It would turn away women and children fleeing violence unless they worship in the right way or to the right God.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 28, 2017
It would turn away women and children fleeing violence unless they worship in the right way or to the right God.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 28, 2017
The part of the executive order that Schiff is referring to states, “(e) Notwithstanding the temporary suspension imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security may jointly determine to admit individuals to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the admission of such individuals as refugees is in the national interest — including when the person is a religious minority in his country of nationality facing religious persecution, when admitting the person would enable the United States to conform its conduct to a preexisting international agreement, or when the person is already in transit and denying admission would cause undue hardship — and it would not pose a risk to the security or welfare of the United States.”
Rep. Schiff is correct what Trump did was institutionalize prejudice against Muslims. The President’s executive order doesn’t just give preference to minority Christians in Muslim countries, but it also forbids majority Muslim populations from ever getting entry into the United States on the basis of nothing more than the religion that they practice.
People of all faiths should be extremely alarmed by the precedent that Trump’s executive order sets. There is nothing stopping Trump from banning anyone of any religion from coming into or staying in the United States.
On a visceral level, it is clear that what Trump did goes against American values, but in real terms, Donald Trump used the power of the presidency to make discrimination the policy of the executive branch, and create a religious test that violates the Constitution.
It is not only fleeing refugees who will be harmed due to Trump’s executive order, but the freedoms of every single American were made weaker with a stroke of Trump’s pen.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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