Minnesota to protest revised Muslim ban
Minneapolis, MN – A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s recently revised Muslim ban executive order, March 15, just hours before it was to take effect.
The Minnesota Anti-War Committee will still hold a protest at 4:30 p.m. at the U.S. Federal Courts Building (300 S 4th St, Minneapolis) on Thursday, March 16, the day the executive order was scheduled to be put into effect.
Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a spokesperson for the Anti-War Committee explains, “Although changes to the original Jan. 27 ban include the exemption of green card holders and the removal of the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, the judge still saw it as a continuation of the racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic policies of the Trump administration. The fact that Donald Trump has not been able to implement either Muslim ban is a victory. People across the country have protested and expressed clear opposition to his anti-Muslim agenda. We will still be protesting tomorrow because the Trump administration seems determined to paint Muslims as ‘terrorists’ and to promote racist immigration policies. We want to send a message to Washington, and to our Muslim neighbors – especially our Somali neighbors – that we do not support Trump’s racist policies or rhetoric.”
Aby continued, “We are particularly concerned that the Trump administration is pursuing these anti-immigrant policies while at the same time escalating wars in the Middle East. This week marks 14 years of war in Iraq and we need to speak out not only against the racist treatment of immigrants but also against the U.S.-funded wars that are creating the very refugees that Trump is attacking.”