National Iranian American Council Condemns Trump's 'Targeted' Muslim Ban 3.0

The National Iranian American Council released the following statement regarding President Trump's adjustments to the discriminatory Muslim Ban following 90 days of review:

"As many have warned, the Trump administration has now taken steps to make its Muslim ban targeting Iranians and other nationals permanent. Absent additional intervention from the courts, and a long-overdue intervention from the Republican-controlled Congress, the Trump administration will cement a racist and discriminatory campaign promise into official U.S. policy. This new Muslim Ban 3.0 is nothing but an extension of the same discriminatory policy first rolled out in January that is a fundamental challenge to American values of equality and tolerance. Once again, Trump has put his ego ahead of the security of the United States and the safety of the American people.

"Amending this ban does not change what its intent has been since its inception, which was clearly to ban Muslims. The Trump Administration has simply tried to make the President's racist proclamation to ban all Muslims more palatable. The bottom line remains that Donald Trump is banning the family members of Iranian Americans and others from visiting the United States based on his own prejudice. By applying the ban to more people Trump has simply doubled down on his efforts to halt legal immigration, including temporary visits, to the greatest extent possible.

"This third iteration of the ban includes minor but wholly inefficient exceptions, including exempting Iranian students and exchange visitors from the ban under enhanced scrutiny. Family members will apparently be banned, in spite of a previous Supreme Court ruling preventing the Administration from banning persons with bona fide relations in the U.S. Iranian Americans who came to the land of the free never imagined that the U.S. would become a country that bars its doors and formally endorses and codifies xenophobic policies.

"Trump's new ban is not designed to make America safer, it's designed to make Trump appear tougher. Banning entire nationalities from visiting the U.S. is absurd and will not make America more secure under any circumstances. The countries included in Trump's latest ban are merely those with whom the US has bad relations, not from where threats have actually emanates. Iran, for instance, is a country that has very poor relations with the US and yet there is no credible threat from Iranians visiting the US. Not a single person has died on American soil due to an Iranian terror attack. 94% of all Americans killed on U.S. soil in acts of terror by a foreign national, were conducted by nationals of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt. But the very real threat from radicalization taking place in Saudi Arabia is not addressed by Trump, nor is it eliminated by the information sharing that does take place between Washington and Riyadh. Trump's new ban seems designed to make him look tough, but not designed to actually make America safer.

"In short, Trump's new ban does not pass the 9/11 test: Had this measure been in place in 2001, it would not have prevented the 9/11 attack.

"While it has long been telegraphed, the fact that restrictions on Iranians were continued indefinitely is a perfect demonstration of why these 'bans' are terrible homeland security policy. Trump himself has praised Iranian Americans as 'one of the most successful immigrant groups in our country's contemporary history.' Secretary of State Tillerson described the Iranian people as a 'very well educated, very sophisticated population' just this week. And, despite the fact that no Iranians or any other nationals included in Trump's ban were responsible for any terror-related deaths on U.S. soil, Trump keeps trying to ban Iranians.

"We are confident that the courts will see through this disingenuous tactic of expanding the ban in order to dilute its clearly discriminatory motive. Casting a wider net only validates what we and others have always maintained, which is that the Muslim Ban was but the first step in a wider initiative to implement Islamophobic, racist, and xenophobic policies that pander to the desires of Trump's White supremacist base. These are not 'targeted' restrictions but arbitrary ones that do not keep the country safer and soil our national reputation."

For more information, or for interview with a National Iranian American Council legal expert, please contact Yasmina Dardari at +1 407 922-8149 or by email at yasmina@unbendablemedia.com.