Local advocacy groups denounce Trump ban on immigrants and refugees
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| Korean-Americans at Dulles Airport. [NAKASEC] |
Local organizations that aid immigrants have denounced President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from any country.
Those groups, along with elected officials, including Rep. Gerry Connolly, Rep. Don Beyer, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and Attorney General Mark Herring, participated in a protest against Trump’s order at Dulles International Airport Jan. 28.
“The executive action signed last week is deeply disconcerting as it demonstrates that the incoming administration lacks the ability to make smart policy judgments and basic compassion for the sufferings and struggles of everyday people,” states the Annandale-based National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC). “Having propagated lies about Muslim Americans and refugees, President Trump is now targeting them in actions that are racist, xenophobic, and unacceptable. Moreover, denying entry to refugees fleeing war and persecution is profoundly inhumane and unAmerican.”
Trump’s order goes against American values and the United States Constitution and will be counterproductive in that it will encourage the spread of ISIS, said Genie Giao Nguyen, president of Voice of Vietnamese Americans.
The barring of refugees for 120 days, including those fleeing war in Syria, is “baseless, inhumane, and against the core principle” of the U.S., which has been “a nation of refugees and immigrants since 1776,” Nguyen said.
Just Neighbors, a nonprofit based in Annandale that aids immigrants and refugees, denounced Trump for referring to immigrants as “invaders and criminals.” According to the organization, “Our American values and laws dictate that everyone receive a just and fair process, whether they have been in in this country for decades or are arriving at our border today in search of safety and protection.”
The Tahira Justice Center, a group based in Seven Corners that provides legal assistance to immigrant woman and children fleeing violence, says Trump’s order “will make it difficult for immigrant women and children who are entitled to protection under well-established current law to access those protections.” As a result, they will be “more vulnerable to exploitation as victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, rape, and gender-based persecution.”
The Legal Aid Justice Center, with offices in Bailey’s Crossroads, has been fighting the order in the courts. The center filed a complaint on behalf of two Yemeni brothers who arrived at Dulles hours after Trump signed the order with plans to live with their father in Michigan. They were illegally denied entry to the United States despite having immigrant visas issued by the U.S. government entitling them to lawful permanent resident status.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia subsequently issued a temporary restraining order barring the deportation of people with green cards detained at Dulles and required they be given access to lawyers.
Trump’s executive order banning immigrants and refugees, “is offensive and counter to what defines this country,” states a tweet from Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova. “We are a nation of immigrants committed to religious freedom. I am committed to keeping Fairfax County a safe and welcoming place.”
24 responses to “Local advocacy groups denounce Trump ban on immigrants and refugees”
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In 2005 Obama stopped processing Iranian refugees for 6 months. Why weren't people protesting then? This is for 90 days.
When you don't talk to DHS, ICE, and the other agencies and just implement a ban on travelers that are in flight it shows you how well organized this administration is. When you get upset by the fact that your inauguration at the lowest turn out in years. When your press secretary states lies and you fire the AG because she does not agree with you. I think this guy is a "Snowflake" and not as in the anti semitic slang but more of the Tami Lahren "Snowflake". Trump is enabling the racist people to come out of the woodwork.
Green card holders are already vetted and were told to go back. Refugees that worked as translators to protect our troops were denied entry.
Got news for you, Mexico aint paying for your wall and the coal jobs are not coming back, if manufacturing comes back it will be automated.
This is just someones vision to "Make America Great again" as in 1910 Great, when women and minorities had no rights.
These aren't the people who will make things less safe, they were normal people who were in a war zone and have been living in camps for years while they were being vetted.
The reason for the low turn out is because the liberal side believes in violence and people do not want to go down there and take their children in case people started breaking windows, burning things, or yelling obscenities. Oh wait a minute that did happen.
I agree with you completely! I didn't go b/c I was afraid for my kids life to express that I was a Republican in this area!!!!
Obama wasn't president in 2005 lol
Hahaha…so much ignorance.
My bad. It was 2011 that Obama stopped immigration from Iran for 6 months. Previous presidents have implemented similar actions. Why the fuss now? It's a far more dangerous world now that in the past.
There was a definite slip up with the greencards, but again, 109 people delayed. Not even a plane full of people. Give it a rest. We want a safe U.S.A.
I would also like a safe Mason District. 2017 isn't starting off well with the plethora of robberies, assualts and homicides.
Obama stop allowing in Iraq refugees in 2011 for six months and has deported about 3 million people when he was president. So get over it snowflakes Trump is doing the same thing Obama did.
You like what Obama did about this topic when he was president so it should not bother you now.
There are few similarities between the two. Trump administration is full of liars.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/29/trumps-facile-claim-that-his-refugee-policy-is-similar-to-obama-in-2011/?utm_term=.8e5d3b66fb1c
I'm talking about deportation and allowing refugees in the US. Follow along with the subject.
@6:10 Do you really want to compare lies between Trump and Obama? Obama would win hands down. Lets start with Benghazi was based off a video. How about the Boston police acting stupidly. If you like your insurance you can keep your insurance. Fast and Furious. Inflating your tires would save you alot of gas money. Here is just a sample of many of Obamas lies.
"inflating your tires" was Bush.
No it was Obama
Bulova can welcome refugees to her home and pay their way through life. I’m tired of the county attempting to loot more and more from my wallet, cry wolf of budget woes out the wazoo, while at the same time claiming that we must welcome more refugees. The math simply doesn’t add up, and the buck has to stop somewhere. There is no “American Carnage” as our President claims, in all his infinite wisdom claims, but these sure aren’t the boom times of the 90s.
I’m not frightened of refugees in the slightest in terms of criminality, and framing the EO as a safety measure is disingenuous and malicious. I will however, not, ignore the fact that importing more indigent people has a negative effect on our tax coffers.
This EO from Trump was incredibly ham-fisted in terms of execution, and should be rescinded and redrawn at some point, but make no mistake, a large part of the electorate (and NOT just Trump supporters) favor more limits on immigration of all types.
I'm "offended" when the County comes door to door, hat in hand, asking for meals taxes and more real property taxes, but takes no stance on shoring up expenses.
I didn't vote for Trump, but I nevertheless laud his commitment to ending the permissiveness that has characterized our government's response to illegal immigration over the past 8 years. As one of his campaign managers put it: "America has lost its southern border." In this age of terrorist activity, there is absolutely no excuse for tolerating "sanctuary cities" or any other local governmental initiative intended to flaunt the law. Moreover, I'm fed up with being lectured about the so-called "rights" of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are criminals and the sooner they're deported the better. Instead, our time would be better spent on welcoming those foreign nationals who have been patiently waiting their turn to legally enter our country.
Add sanctuary counties to your list. Fairfax is a known sanctuary county and Mason District's problems are the result.
The groups protesting President Trump's action seem to be misunderstanding the nature of the action. The action does not bar ALL Muslims from ALL countries coming to America. It bars immigration from only CERTAIN countries, which U.S. and other intelligence agencies have roundly identified to be sources of violent extremists that threaten the U.S. Under President Trump's order, Muslims from Nigeria will still be able to come to the U.S., Muslims from Europe will still be able to come to the U.S., and Muslims from Indonesia will still be able to come to the U.S., to name just a few of the countries and regions unaffected by the order. President Trump's order is NOT a "Muslim immigrant ban," as some are wont to call it. Calling it such reveals reactionary, hysterical, irrational thinking on this subject.
Muslim-majority countries that have sent terrorists to the U.S., like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are excluded. Why? because Trump has hotel properties there.
Also it should be noted – the ban doesn't apply to Christians, so yes it targets people of a certain religion, which is blatantly unconstitutional.
And it that isn't scary enough, think about this – the whole thing was concocted by Trump's chief advisor, Steve Bannon, a white supremacist, hatemonger, and Nazi sympathizer.
"Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are excluded. Why?" Because the U.S. needs Saudi oil and military support. The U.S. ships a substantial amount of war material for Afghanistan through Pakistan. This was going on long before Trump.
Please, Anonymous 2/1/17 12:42 PM, you make the previous point exactly. Your reply is hysterical and irrational. Have you read Trump's January 27 Executive Order (full text available at whitehouse.gov)? It does not once mention the words "Muslim" or "Christian." The only country it explicitly names is Syria; the other countries in the list of "Countries of Particular Concern" are all named in U.S. laws existing long before Trump even got serious about running for POTUS.
Your last paragraph is ridiculous. None of your allegations against Mr. Bannon can be proved, and they smack of (once again) hysterical, irrational thinking, to which I will add "misinformed" and "brainwashed." I suppose you watch a lot of MSNBC.
Lets get the facts straight. The seven countries were picked by Obama because they do not have governments we can call to get information on their citizens. When one of their citizens wants to come here we can not verify who they are or what they have done. Please check your facts. Obama is the one that started it all. Trump finished it.
Yes, it was terrible when Steve Bannon abstained from the UN vote that threw the entire State of Israel under the bus. And when he said Israel could not be a deomacracy and a Jewish State. Obviously, the Nazi forgot the whole reason Israel was created in the first place….
Oops, my bad. That was not Bannon that was the Obama admisitration on its way out the door. Where was the outrage?
I'm a LEGAL foreigner none of this offends me. But what does offend me is liberals teaching my kids IN SCHOOL on how to act! And not teaching them to stand up for what they believe in and what is taught at home because they're too afraid to be bullied if they agree with Trump!!!
Uh…isn't that your job as a parent?