Providing recent updates and advocacy tips for allies, FCNL Lobbyist for Human Rights and Civil Liberties Yasmine Taeb discussed President Trump’s Muslim and refugee ban in a webinar held by Stand.earth on March 28th.
Support refugees. Stop the Muslim ban.
The webinar, entitled “#NoBanNoWallNoRaids,” focused on grassroots activists’ responses to the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration and refugee policies.
Taeb began with a summary of President Trump’s revised executive order suspending the refugee resettlement program and barring travel from six Muslim-majority countries, which she described as essentially no different from a previous version signed in January.
She then discussed legislative strategies to counteract the executive order, urging listeners to call their members of Congress in support of legislation to rescind it and defund its implementation.
Urge Congress to revoke the executive order on immigrants and refugees.
Finally, Taeb emphasized the key role of protest and public outcry in movements for social change. The massive rallies and airport protests following the first Muslim and refugee ban played a critical role in discrediting the policy, she said.
“Whenever we see that one of our communities is under attack, we have to be ready to hit the streets,” Taeb said. “We have to vocally reject cruel, discriminatory policies like those in this executive order.”
The Muslim ban executive order “flies in the face of the core American value of welcoming families to come to the United States to start their lives again in safety and dignity,” Taeb said. “This is not who we are as a country. It is profoundly un-American, unconscionable, and in fact unconstitutional to target entire groups of people simply because of their national origin or religious background.”
In addition to Taeb, the webinar also featured Mark Silverman, Senior Staff Attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and Emilio Vicente, Advocacy Coordinator at United We Dream.
