President Donald Trump’s new travel ban against nationals from a dozen countries is “dangerous and discriminatory” and is a significant threat to religious freedom, according to Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler said the ban, which goes into effect June 9, is an effort to demonize citizens from those nations rather than to protect Americans from terrorism as the administration claims. “Cloaked in national security language, it continues a pattern of singling out individuals based on their faith, race and national origin. It is not a genuine security measure. It is state-sanctioned discrimination.”
Amanda Tyler
Trump singed an executive order June 4 barring the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrant citizens from Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The directive also places visa restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security,” the order states.
“As president, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people. I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks.”
Separately, Trump cited the June 1 flamethrower attack in Boulder, Colo. against supporters of Israeli hostages as justification for renewing the travel ban he imposed during his first term. Authorities said as many as 15 were injured in the attack by Egyptian Mohamed Sabry Soliman, whose country is not covered by the ban.
“National security must be rooted in facts, not fear-mongering.”
Using the Colorado incident as an excuse for the travel ban is “opportunistic and misleading” while Egypt’s omission from it proves the action is “arbitrary and political in nature,” Tyler said.
“National security must be rooted in facts, not fear-mongering. We must not accept a government that uses religion and ethnicity as proxies for threat. Religious freedom means freedom for all — not just those favored by those in power. The ban’s broad sweep, affecting students, families, businesspeople and refugees, represents a moral failure and a constitutional affront.”
Myal Greene
Word Relief President Myal Greene said he is “grieved” by Trump’s order because it will further restrict legal immigration, continue the separation of families and hamper international missions.
“It’s always been difficult for most individuals in many of these countries to obtain visas, but this blunt order restricts the entry even of those who meet strict qualifications and undergo thorough vetting,” he said.
Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, added: “My heart is heavy for the families who have patiently waited many years or even decades under the backlogged family reunification processes of our laws, only to now be told that their loved ones abroad are barred from joining them in the United States, and from those who will be prevented even from obtaining a visitor visa to visit their family in America.”
Paul Raushenbush
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, also warned about the dangers of Trump’s order.
“The new ban primarily targets Muslim-majority countries from the Middle East and North Africa and clearly echoes the unconstitutional Muslim ban from the first Trump administration, which was later repealed by President Biden,” he said. “It is an act of cruel collective religious punishment on a global scale and will terribly impact millions of people around the world as well as so many American citizens, residents and their families.
“By primarily targeting Muslims and people of color, it sends a message of discrimination on the basis of religion and ethnicity, undermining our nation’s status as a multi-faith democracy where all religions and communities are entitled to equal rights.”
He joined Tyler is saying the travel ban has nothing to do with the Colorado attack.
“While President Trump shamefully cites the recent horrific antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colo., as part of his justification for issuing this ban, the truth is that this mass ban on millions of people will do nothing to make our Jewish neighbors safer. This is about xenophobia and pandering to the president’s anti-immigrant base — not about national security or fighting antisemitism.”