Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people protested Saturday, February 1, outside the Federal Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis to condemn Donald Trump adding six more countries to his administration’s travel ban.

The protest was called by the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Minnesota (CAIR) just a day earlier and was endorsed by the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Black Immigrant Collective, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Anti-War Committee, among others.

The Minneapolis protest was emceed by Jaylani Hussein of CAIR-MN. State Attorney General Keith Ellison and former State Representative Erin Murphy spoke at the rally, as did leaders from the ACLU, Immigrant Law Center, Anti-War Committee, Black Immigrant Collective, RISE and others.

On January 31, the Trump administration announced they intend to ban people Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan from coming to work or live in the U.S., while people from Tanzania and Sudan would be banned from applying for the visa lottery. The new ban would take effect on February 22. Minnesota has many residents from Eritrea and Myanmar whose families would be affected by the ban. This is in addition to people from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, north Korea and Venezuela who remain subject to the first Muslim ban.

Speakers emphasized that this ban deepens the Islamophobic policies of this administration. Jaylani Hussein recalled that it was Trump himself who repeatedly called for a Muslim ban during his electoral campaign but was forced to stop using that language when courts made clear that would not stand. Hussein dared him to again be forthright in calling these policies what they truly are. Many speakers also made clear that this expansion of the ban is focused on African countries, including Africa’s most populous country of Nigeria, so in addition to being a Muslim ban it is also a racist Africa ban.

President Trump’s initial Muslim ban provoked mass protests at airports around the country in 2017. That ban was tied up in courts until the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow it to go into effect. With this announcement of an expansion it is clear that this administration will not be content with any victories they win – every inch they advance just encourages them to take a mile. Speakers reinforced the need to continue to protest racist and Islamophobic policies.

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The MN Anti-War Committee organized multiple protests, including one of 15,000 people in downtown Minneapolis in January 2017, to protest the Trump’s Muslim ban.

The MN Anti-War Committee has initiated a call-in day for January 27 and are asking their supporters to call their members of Congress to tell them to take action to stop the president from targeting more immigrant communities

The MN Anti-War Committee also announced they will call an emergency response protest if the president expands the travel ban. The protest will take place at the Federal Building at 4th Avenue and 4th Street in downtown Minneapolis at 5 p.m. within 24 hours of the announcement. Supporters can go to AntiwarMN on Facebook or Twitter or to antiwarcommittee.org for details for up-to-date information about our emergency response protest.

Wyatt Miller, an organizer with the Anti-War Committee explained the importance of this potential ban to Fight Back!, “Regardless which countries make the final list, the underlying message of Trump’s expanded travel ban will be the same: no independent or non-aligned nation in the world is safe from U.S. pressure. Travel bans are a form of coercive sanctions and Trump has shown he’s willing to exploit racism and xenophobia to build support for them. As an issue at the intersection of immigrant rights, anti-imperialism and anti-racism, all progressive people in the U.S. have a duty to oppose this.”

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Tucson, AZ – A couple dozen Tucsonans gathered outside the federal government building to protest the new Muslim ban proposed by Trump. The crowd celebrated the victory over the Trump administration’s Islamophobic executive order, resulting from popular pressure and two federal judge rulings in Hawaii and Maryland.

“As we celebrate this short-term victory, we must continue to gather forces and build mass movements to stop Trump and the agenda of this administration,” said organizer Amanda Molina, “We know he will keep pressing for this issue and others that harm Arab and Muslim peoples. We must organize movements strong enough to stop him!”

#TucsonAZ #Antiracism #MuslimBan #TravelBan

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.”

#MinneapolisMN #Antiracism #MuslimBan #TravelBan