Gutierrez, Duckworth & Local Advocates Blast Trump's 'More Of The Same' 'Muslim Ban'
By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 6, 2017 8:08PM
Photo: Tyler LaRiviere
National lawmakers from Illinois and Chicago-based activists alike blasted President Donald Trump's revised immigration and refugee ban, arguing that, despite some alterations, the executive order still amounts to a "Muslim ban."
"This is just the same stuff on a different day. If you called xenophobia a rose, would it not smell just as foul?" said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) in a statement.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth argued that the new action will again be counterproductive to national security and hinges on a discriminatory framework.
"Just like his last Muslim ban, this executive order plays into our enemy's hands by giving them a propaganda tool to spread a false narrative about the United States hating Muslims," Duckworth said in a statement. "This ban will not make our country safer and betrays the American values those of us who served in uniform fought to defend. Discrimination is discrimination and no amount of sugarcoating by the President will change that."
Sen. Dick Durbin called the action, which Trump signed on Monday morning, "unconstitutional and un-American." "Wasting taxpayer dollars and unnecessarily inflicting pain on innocent families isn’t going to change that," Durbin said in a statement. "Trump’s executive order plays directly into our enemies’ hands and makes America less safe. Trump’s first travel ban was blocked by multiple federal courts, and his latest will no doubt face the same fate.”
Under the revised order, Iraq is no longer on the list of affected countries, and the provision that favored religious minorities, such as Christians from the Middle East, is removed. The ban on Syrian refugees is for 120 days, after which a review is scheduled, rather than indefinite. But citizens from six Muslim-majority nations—Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen—are barred from getting visas for at least 90 days.
Here in Chicago, the American Arab Action Network led a press conference, supported by dozens of local organizations, at 101 W. Congress Pkwy., the Chicago office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Among those who in support of AAAN were Organized Communities Against Deportations, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Pilsen Alliance, Syrian Community Network, Arise Chicago, United Working Families, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and several others.
“Our strength is grounded in the way we work together, lift each other up, and defend our refugee brothers and sisters who are being targeted by their country of origin without any basis by the current administration,” said Lawrence Benito, chief executive officer of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, in a statement.
“Regardless of what you call it, it is still a ban on Muslims” said Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia at the press conference.
Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director of Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center, echoed the Garcia's sentiment. "This new order is simply a modified refugee and Muslim ban," she said, calling the premises of the order "patently unlawful."
Update 3:45 p.m.
The Illinois American Civil Liberties Union, the Council on Islamic Relations Chicago and lawyers who have been at O’Hare airport volunteering their services to travelers affected by the ban since Trump’s first executive order all weighed in on the latest at an afternoon press conference.
“There have been a series of cosmetic changes to a bad that had been found to be unconstitutional,” said Ed Yohnka of the Illinois ACLU. “It’s still unconstitutional, it remains a religious test to enter the US. This is something fundamentally that our nation has never permitted and we will not permit it again.”
Yohnka also pointed out that though the Trump administration has used “national security” to justify the ban, that security wasn’t exactly of paramount importance after the president’s joint address to Congress last week. “This was so important to national security that they didn’t want to spoil their political moment,” said Yohnka, referring to the administration's decision to hold the signing of the ban after Trump received favorable reviews of his speech from some in the press.
CAIR-Chicago meanwhile, formally announced its Travelers Assistance project (TAP), an effort to streamline the process for affected travelers seeking or in need of legal assistance due to the executive order.
"TAP combines pro bono legal assistance, technology that streamlines the exchange and access of data, and CAIR-Chicago's organizational resources and special access and credibility within the Muslim community to maximize results, eliminate redundancies, and ensure the ability to analyze trends," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago.
“The groundswell of support from the legal community right after the first executive orders was not just a weekend of interest,” said Matt Pryor, coordinator for TAP who is also one of the more than 1400 legal professionals who have been volunteering their time to assist travelers at O’Hare airport. Lawyers, interpreters and others have been at the airport every day since Trump’s first executive order in January.
Updates from O'Hare for today
— ORDLawyersHQ (@ORDLawyersHQ) March 6, 2017
- Travel volume down, significantly less passengers
- Travelers expressing concerns about impact of EO