by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : Khizr Khan, father of Capt. Humayun Khan who was killed on duty in Iraq, personally appealed to the Supreme Court to strike down President Donald Trump’s travel ban, arguing that it was unconstitutional and “desecrates” his son’s sacrifice, the media reported.
Originally from Pakistan and a Muslim, Khan filed the legal brief on Friday because, in his view, Trump’s travel ban “not only desecrates Humayun Khan’s service and sacrifice as a Muslim- American officer in the US Army, but also violates Khizr Khan’s own constitutional rights”. his attorney, Dan Jackson, wrote in the brief.
The ban places varying levels of restrictions on foreign nationals from eight countries: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and Yemen, CNN reported.
Known for his impassioned speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan is also a lawyer.
Capt. Humayun Khan was killed in 2004 when he moved to stop a car containing suicide bombers headed toward his base in Iraq, for which he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
The brief describes the Khan family’s history and the service of Humayun Khan, mentioning as well the DNC speech where Khizr Khan held up a pocket Constitution and emotionally asked Trump if he had read it.
The brief also notes Trump’s comments on the campaign trail that he wanted to institute a “Muslim ban”, a key component of critics’ arguments that the administration’s travel ban is a thinly veiled attempt to target Muslims.
“The taint of discrimination has not been washed away,” the brief argues, saying the latest travel ban and its predecessors all flow from that original idea.
“The message is that Muslims are unwelcome outsider… And that message has been received loud and clear — not only by Muslims like Mr. Khan, but by those who have been denigrating and attacking Muslims with increasing frequency and vehemence since President Trump called for, and then began trying to implement, his unconstitutional Muslim Ban.”
Jackson told CNN on Friday that Khizr Khan felt compelled to weigh in because of the impact of the travel ban on his son’s legacy.
“I don’t know anyone who respects our Constitution more, or has suffered greater loss for its defence, than Mr. Khan and his family,” Jackson said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : Faith groups protested on Friday against ongoing efforts by the Donald Trump administration to institute a ban on travel by residents of a number of Muslim-majority countries.
The demonstration in New York’s Washington Square Park took place a year after Trump’s first executive order setting out the ban, which has been blocked by the courts.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to decide the legality of the latest version of Trump’s ban, which affects residents from six countries instead of the original seven.
It pits an administration that considers the restrictions necessary for Americans’ security against challengers who claim it is illegally aimed at Muslims and stems from Trump’s campaign call for a “complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US. The policy blocks entry into the US of most people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
The justices plan to hear arguments in April and issue a final ruling by late June on a Trump policy that has repeatedly been blocked and struck down in the lower courts. On Friday protesters linked arms around a group of Muslim demonstrators who knelt to pray in Washington Square Park.
Rev Dr. Chloe Breyer, from the Interfaith Centre of New York, told Huffington Post: “It’s practically important and symbolically important to stand with people of different faith traditions. It’s what we should do as Americans.”
Trump’s first travel ban was issued almost a year ago, almost immediately after he took office, and was aimed at seven countries.
It triggered chaos and protests across the US as travelers were stopped from boarding international flights and detained at airports for hours. Trump tweaked the order after the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit refused to reinstate the ban.
The next version, unveiled in March, dropped Iraq from the list of covered countries and made it clear the 90-day ban covering Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen did not apply to those travelers who already had valid visas. It also dropped language that would give priority to religious minorities. Critics said the changes did not erase the legal problems with the ban.
The same appeals courts that are evaluating the current policy agreed with the challengers. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said the ban “drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.” The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump violated immigration law.
The Supreme Court allowed the ban to take partial effect but said those with a claim of a “bona fide” relationship with someone in the US could not be kept out of the country. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were among those who could not be excluded.
But the high court said lower courts were wrong to apply the same limits to the new policy, at least while it is being appealed. The justices did not explain their brief order.
The third version is permanent, unlike the other two, and the administration said it is the product of a thorough review by several agencies of how other countries’ screen their own citizens and share information with the U.S.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in court papers that the policy is well within the President’s “broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens outside the United States when he deems it in the Nation’s interest.”
In response, the challengers said the policy violates the Constitution because it is biased against Muslims and also violates immigration law. The new version continues “the same unlawful policy” that was struck down by lower courts last year, lawyer Neal Katyal said in his brief on behalf of the challengers.
—SM/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : The Supreme Court has allowed the third version of President Donald Trumps executive order to ban residents of eight countries including six Muslim-majority nations, from travelling to the US while legal challenges against it continue, media reports said.
Issued in September, the third edition of the travel ban placed varying levels of restrictions on foreign nationals from the eight countries: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and Yemen, reports CNN.
This is the first time justices have allowed any edition of the ban to go forward in its entirety.
In unsigned orderd on Monday that did not disclose the Supreme Court’s reasoning, the justices lifted the injunctions, which had been issued by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.
The court’s orders mean that the administration can fully enforce its new restrictions on travel from the eight nations, reports The New York Times.
The restrictions vary in their details, but in most cases, citizens of the countries will be unable to emigrate to the US permanently and many will be barred from working, studying or vacationing here.
Iran, for example, will still be able to send its citizens on student exchanges, though such visitors will be subject to enhanced screening.
Somalis will no longer be allowed to emigrate to the US, but may visit with extra screening.
The Supreme Court’s orders effectively overturned a compromise in place since June, when it said that travellers with connections to the US could continue to travel here notwithstanding restrictions in an earlier version of the ban.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the order “a substantial victory for the safety and security of the American people”.
A spokesman for the White House, Hogan Gidley, said: “We are not surprised by today’s Supreme Court decision,” calling it “lawful and essential to protecting our homeland”.
Meanwhile, challenges against the travel ban will continue this week on both coasts, reports CNN.
In the Hawaii case, a district court judge blocked the ban from going into effect except as it pertains to Venezuela and North Korea.
But a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals partially lifted that order.
The appeals court allowed the ban to go into effect except for foreign nationals who have “bona fide” relationships with people or entities in the US. The language of the order was adopted from a Supreme Court order pertaining to an earlier version of the ban.
Neal Katyal, representing Hawaii, had urged the justices to leave the lower court’s ruling — that echoed the justices’ own words from the previous case — intact.
In a separate challenge out of Maryland brought by, among others, the International Refugee Assistance Project, US District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang issued a similar order also partially enjoining the ban in a case that is now pending before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Both cases are scheduled to be heard before the appeals courts on Wednesday and Friday.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Canberra : The Syrian city of Raqqa is no longer under the control of Islamic State (IS) forces, the Australian Foreign Minister confirmed on Wednesday, paving the way for his countrymen to travel there.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said while the travel ban had been lifted after coalition forces retook the city, both Syria and Iraq retained their “do not travel” warnings, Xinhua news agency reported.
Australia’s Attorney-General George Brandis said that it was still illegal for Australians to travel to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Bishop admitted the liberation of Raqqa was a “major step forward” in the fight against IS, but added that it was still an incredibly dangerous place to visit.
Australians will no longer face criminal charges for travelling to the former “de-facto capital city” of the terrorist organisation.
Travel to the city was made a crime by the Australian government in December 2014 to discourage possible extremists from joining the fight in the Middle East.
Laws were also passed stripping dual citizens of their Australian passports should they be found to be in the war-affected nations.
“This is an important milestone in the fight against Islamic State, because the retaking of Raqqa deprives this terrorist organisation of an operating base in Syria.”
Bishop said while IS had been driven out of the city, the terror group “remains a dangerous threat”, hinting that factions would continue to emerge in other parts of the world, as it has in the Philippines.
“IS is likely to emerge elsewhere, with its violent insurgency activities, and we will continue to be committed to the fight against (the group),” the Minister said.
The government added that those who traveled to Raqqa between December 5, 2014 and November 28, would still face prosecution.
“Any Australian who travels to Mosul should know that they will be detected and they will be prosecuted, as five Australians are currently subject to prosecution,” Brandis said.
According to the government, it “remains illegal for Australian citizens to… fight with any armed group in Syria or any terrorist organisation listed under Australian law”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Donald Trump
Washington : US President Donald Trump has announced new travel restrictions for eight countries including North Korea, replacing the previous ban on six Muslim-majority countries, citing threats to national security posed by letting their citizens into Washington.
Starting next month, most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Venezuela and North Korea will be banned from entering the US, Trump said in a proclamation released on Sunday night.
“Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet,” Trump tweeted just after the proclamation was released.
In a statement, the White House called the new restrictions a “critical step toward establishing an immigration system that protects Americans’ safety and security in an era of dangerous terrorism and transnational crime,” CNN reported.
“We cannot afford to continue the failed policies of the past, which present an unacceptable danger to our country.
“My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and in issuing this new travel order, I am fulfilling that sacred obligation,” Trump said in the White House statement.
For the last three months, the administration used an executive order to ban foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan — from entering the US unless they had a “bona fide” relationship with a person or entity in the country.
Individuals with that “bona fide” exception, such as a foreign grandparent of a US citizen, can still apply for visas until October 18. After that date, the new restrictions will begin.
According to the new list, travel will be broadly suspended, while in other cases, travellers will have to undergo enhanced screening and vetting requirements.
For instance, foreign nationals from North Korea are banned, but a student from Iran will be allowed in, subject to “enhanced screening and vetting requirements”, CNN quoted the White House statement as saying.
However, no current validly issued green cards, visas or travel documents will be revoked.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that with the new restrictions, “the President is carrying out his duty to protect the American people.
“The State Department will coordinate with other federal agencies to implement these measures in an orderly manner… We will continue to work closely with our allies and partners who share our commitment to national and global security.”
A revised travel ban effecting those from six-Muslim majority countries officially expired earlier on Sunday, reports CNN.
Trump signed the initial travel ban during his first week in office, but it was met with immediate legal challenges, which have continued to hinder implementation of the full scope of the executive order.
The administration released a second version in March, which included substantial changes.
The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the legality of the travel ban next month.
—IANS
