Trump decree paves way for ‘Muslim ban’, targeting pro-Palestine students

Washington, DC – Civil rights advocates successful the United States are raising the alarm implicit a directive signed by President Donald Trump that they accidental lays the groundwork for different question prohibition targeting Muslim-majority countries.

The executive order, released connected Monday, whitethorn besides beryllium utilized to people overseas nationals who are already successful the US legally and ace down connected planetary students who advocator for Palestinian rights, experts say.

Deepa Alagesan, a lawyer astatine the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), an advocacy group, said the caller bid is “bigger and worse” than the “xenophobic” question prohibition that Trump imposed connected respective Muslim-majority countries successful 2017 during his archetypal term.

“The worst portion of it now, it’s looking to not conscionable prohibition radical extracurricular the US entering the US, but besides to usage these aforesaid rationales arsenic a ground to get radical retired of the US,” Alagesan told Al Jazeera.

The caller bid directs medication officials to compile a database of nations “for which vetting and screening accusation is truthful deficient arsenic to warrant a partial oregon afloat suspension connected the admittance of nationals from those countries”.

It goes further, however. It calls for identifying the fig of citizens who entered the US from those countries since 2021 — during Joe Biden’s presidency — and collecting “relevant” accusation astir their “actions and activities”.

The White House past orders “immediate steps” to deport overseas citizens from those countries “whenever accusation is identified that would enactment the exclusion oregon removal”.

Trump’s enforcement bid besides says the medication indispensable guarantee that overseas citizens, including those successful the US, “do not carnivore hostile attitudes” towards American citizens, civilization oregon authorities and “do not advocator for, aid, oregon enactment designated overseas terrorists”.

Advocates telephone bid ‘scary’

Alagesan warned that the decree, dubbed “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”, could inflict much harm connected immigrant families than the 2017 question restrictions, known collectively arsenic the “Muslim ban”.

She said the order’s vague connection is “scary” due to the fact that it appears to springiness US agencies wide authorization to urge actions against radical whom the medication seeks to target.

“At its core, it’s conscionable different method to support radical out, to get radical out, to interruption up families, to incite fear, to marque definite that radical cognize that they are not invited and that the authorities volition bring its unit to carnivore against them,” Alagesan told Al Jazeera.

Other advocacy groups person besides decried the bid since its publication.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said the decree goes further than the 2017 “Muslim ban” by giving the authorities “wider latitude to usage ideological exclusion” to contradict visas and region radical from the US.

“ADC calls connected the Trump medication to halt stigmatizing and targeting full communities, which lone sows division,” the radical said successful a statement.

“America’s committedness of freedom of speech and look — a rule that President Trump himself has agelong highlighted — present stands successful stark contradiction to his caller enforcement order.”

The Muslim Public Affairs Council besides cautioned successful a connection that enhancing vetting measures for circumstantial countries risks “functioning arsenic a de facto Muslim prohibition nether the guise of information protocols”.

Maryam Jamshidi, a prof astatine the University of Colorado Law School, said the bid appears to revive the travel ban from Trump’s archetypal term, portion pushing a right-wing docket successful the broader civilization wars.

Parts of the decree besides specifically people Palestinians and Palestinian rights supporters, Jamshidi added.

“The close is precise invested successful continuing this conception that foreigners, radical who are Black, brown, Muslim — not achromatic Judeo-Christian, efficaciously — are threatening ‘real Americans’.”

‘Ugliest imaginable action’

In 2018, respective US media outlets reported that Trump told aides the US should admit much immigrants from places similar Norway alternatively than radical from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations, which helium called “s***hole countries”.

Many right-wing politicians — including Trump’s existent vice president, JD Vance — person embraced the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits that determination is an effort to regenerate native-born Americans with immigrants.

Trump’s caller bid warns against overseas nationals successful the US seeking to undermine oregon regenerate American culture.

Still, experts accidental it is improbable to beryllium utilized arsenic a wide deportation vehicle.

“It gives marching orders to the agencies to fundamentally usage the afloat grade of ineligible frameworks and loopholes to instrumentality the ugliest imaginable enactment to region radical that the president has decided helium doesn’t privation here,” Alagesan said.

“That said, determination are inactive laws limiting the grounds connected which idiosyncratic tin beryllium removed, and determination are protections disposable to radical who are successful deportation proceedings.”

Jamshidi besides said it is not wide however the bid would spell astir deporting people, noting that it is not established whether the migration instrumentality cited gives the medication authorization to region overseas nationals.

The decree relies connected a conception of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president powerfulness to restrict introduction to the US for “any people of aliens” — but not to region radical already here.

“This is astir apt not a broad deportation charge,” Jamshidi said.

But she warned that the bid could pb to further scrutiny against radical from those countries and deter governmental activities — particularly Palestinian solidarity — that could beryllium perceived arsenic moving afoul of the administration’s guidelines.

Students astatine a protestation encampment show successful enactment of Palestinians successful Gaza astatine George Washington University successful Washington, DC, connected April 25, 2024 [Leah Millis/Reuters]

Efforts to deport pupil activists

The bid directs US officials to marque recommendations to “protect” citizens from overseas nationals “who preach oregon telephone for sectarian violence, the overthrow oregon replacement of the civilization connected which our law Republic stands, oregon who supply aid, advocacy, oregon enactment for overseas terrorists”.

Jamshidi said the connection is “certainly astir overseas nationals, including overseas students who are participating successful Palestine advocacy”.

With pro-Israel politicians often calling field activists “pro-Hamas”, Jamshidi said Trump’s edict could beryllium utilized to people Palestinian rights advocates who are successful the US connected pupil visas.

Both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio person antecedently called for deporting planetary students.

As Palestinian solidarity protests swept the country’s universities pursuing the outbreak of the warfare connected Gaza, Israel’s supporters, particularly Republicans, painted pupil demonstrators arsenic a menace to field safety.

Rubio led a Senate missive to the Biden administration successful October 2023, calling for the removal of planetary students who participated successful protests successful enactment of Palestinians.

The missive drew parallels betwixt pupil protesters and the 9/11 attackers. It cited “lessons learned connected September 11, 2001, erstwhile terrorists, galore of whom were studying successful the United States oregon had overstayed visas, carried retired the deadliest onslaught connected American soil”.

“Sadly, twenty-two years later, our state is witnessing nationalist displays from violent sympathizers taking to the streets and condoning Hamas’ brutal attacks against the State of Israel,” the missive read.

The 2024 Republican Party level besides calls for deporting “pro-Hamas radicals” to marque assemblage campuses “safe and patriotic again”.

‘Broader implications’

Dima Khalidi, manager of the advocacy radical Palestine Legal, said it is “clear” that Trump’s caller enforcement bid was crafted to specifically people Palestinian rights supporters.

She added that, portion the decree does not specify Israel, pro-Israel groups person been trying to represent disapproval of the US state arsenic not conscionable anti-Israel oregon adjacent anti-Semitic but arsenic “un-American”.

“We person to link it to this bid to the broader ideological imposition that’s happening and portion of the larger purging that Trump seems precise intent connected carrying out,” Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

She said the Trump medication is seeking to usage the wide discretion successful migration instrumentality to ace down connected Palestinian rights supporters due to the fact that of their views and circumvent escaped code rights.

“They are truly coating a representation for radical of what is acceptable, what is not; what is American, what is not; what is patriotic, what is not,” Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

Critics accidental the bottommost enactment is that, portion Trump’s archetypal “Muslim ban” targeted travellers from respective Muslim-majority countries, this bid has farther-reaching consequences, including astir what it means to be an American.

For example, the decree calls for measures to guarantee the “proper assimilation” of immigrants and “promote a unified American identity”.

Jamshidi said the bid has “broader implications for each sorts of groups than the archetypal iterations of the Muslim ban”.

“It’s different salvo successful the right’s civilization wars,” she told Al Jazeera.