CAIR Addresses Trump's Proposed Refugee Policy
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - As early as this week, President Donald Trump is set to make good on controversial campaign promises to ban Muslim refugees. Muslim rights groups in North Texas are speaking out against the changes, saying that they are alarmed and enraged by the President's actions.
The DFW Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) joined other civic and faith leaders in Dallas on Thursday to address the impending ban. They are bracing for the worst, but hoping that Trump will reconsider.
Thursday's meeting came after news spread about a draft executive order. It would suspend the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and halt the acceptance of Syrian refugees in particular. The order would also block new visas for six other African and Middle Eastern counties.
A small group of protesters were outside of the White House on Wednesday with banners saying 'Refugees Welcome.'
"Let's not forget that these are people that we're talking about here," said CAIR civil rights director Nikiya Natale on Thursday morning, "people that are forced out of their homes."
"These policies and these words are un-American," said Imam Omar Suleiman, an Islamic Studies professor at SMU. "They're un-Human, un-Christian. They're un-Jewish. They're un-Muslim. They're un- anything that is good or righteous."
Trump has said that the ban is needed to keep the U.S. safe from terrorists. But Suleiman said that the President is picking on countries that America has no economic ties to. He called it "fear-mongering."
