On Tuesday, the House of Representatives will finally hold a hearing on reversing Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, which has separated families and blocked thousands more from entering the U.S. The hearing is historic, advocates note, marking the first time that this chamber has held a hearing on Muslim civil rights.
“Since the ban was first enacted, travelers have been stranded at airports, newlyweds have been torn apart and civilians seeking medical attention have been denied visas to enter the country for treatment,” HuffPost’s Rowaida Abdelaziz reports. “Some Americans were forced to make the difficult decision to leave the U.S. and move to war-torn countries just to be with their families.”
Abdelaziz said that the administration rejected over 37,000 visa applications in 2018 due to the ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court after some tweaking from White House aide and white supremacist Stephen Miller. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent from that 5-4 decision slammed the administration’s ban as an “unrelenting attack on the Muslim religion and its followers.”
Sahar Algonaimi, a Syrian national, had been traveling from Saudi Arabia to the United States to help in her mom’s recovery from breast cancer when she was detained at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for hours. Even though she held a U.S. visa, she was then forced to turn back. “I needed someone to be with me here,” her sister Nour cried. “How am I going to teach my kids and tell them that this is a free country? How can we tell my kids that we have to take care of each other?”
Tuesday’s House hearing will focus on other victims of this discriminatory policy, and on the No Ban Act, which “would end the Muslim ban and restrict future presidents from enacting similar bans,” Abdelaziz continues. The legislation so far has the support of 160 Democrats, including Reps. André Carson, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, the House’s three Muslim members.
“We are pleased with the support we already have―over 150 Democrats on the House side,” said Muslim Advocates leader Farhana Khera. “Frankly, every member of Congress should be supporting this bill, but especially the Democrats, who are the champions today, more than ever, of freedom, justice and equality in our country.”
Notably missing from that list of supporters are Republicans, the same ones who supposedly like to champion religious liberty. Clearly that comes with an asterisk. As Dean Obeidallah wrote earlier this year in the Daily Beast, “In May, there was Trump declaring that religious freedom is a ‘priority’ of his administration. And in July, Trump’s Department of Justice even announced the formation of a religious liberty task force.” But when it comes to protecting the rights and dignity of Muslims, crickets.