Muslim Ban

On January 27th, 2017 Donald Trump issued an executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries (“Trump v. Hawaii,” 2018, p.327). The Trump administration created many iterations of this order, namely EO-3 which restricted entry from Chad, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen in the name of counterterrorism and national security that was challenged by the state of Hawaii (p.329). The supreme court dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims, statutory and constitutional, in favor of the President’s ability to regulate and exclude foreign nationals from entering the United States. The supreme court held that admissibility to the United States was under the jurisdiction of the President.

This ban had and still has enduring consequences on many Muslims in the United States. Muslims and non-muslims alike from the countries listed the executive orders know as the muslim ban were separated from their families, unable to move between America and their ancestral countries. Immigrants and refugees seeking a safe haven away from war and political unrest were able to look to the United States, a country that prides itself on promoting and protecting freedom. The ACLU gathered stories of aspiring immigrants, citizens, and citizenship lottery winners demonstrating the broad effects of this ban on the daily lives and livelihood of MENA-Americans. One father from Yemen, who won the American visa lottery, in the grueling and lengthy process of trying to get his American passport while the war raged on, he and his wife sold all of their possessions and traveled to the closest American embassy in Djibouti (Rafei and Mukpo, 2021). After this lengthy process, due to the muslim ban, Anwar’s visa was denied and he and his family continue to live in Yemen (2021).

Stories like these demonstrate the differential, harmful treatment of MENA-Americans and immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. The muslim ban intensified and reinforced negative stereotypes about MENA people and Muslim people in regards to terrorism and anti-Americanness.