Trump signed an executive order Friday that, effective immediately, suspended the U.S. Refugee Admission program for 120 days and prohibited entry by foreign nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days.
In Sugar Land, Muslim leaders have heard concerns not only about the travel restrictions but also about public treatment of Muslims domestically. In light of mosques that burned down in Lake Travis and Victoria last month—the latter of which occurred Sunday, two days after the order was signed—community members were stressing caution.
Associate directors of the Maryam Islamic Center in New Territory and the Masjid At-taqwa in Sugar Land—worship centers within the Islamic Society of Greater Houston—said Tuesday that they were increasing security personnel at their facilities for the first time.
“Every community member is very concerned that this is not American; this is very, very un-American,” said Anwer Wadiwala of Maryam Islamic Center. “I have never seen anything like this.”
“Some of my people’s family outside the country—they’re worried whether they’ll come back or not, whether they’ll let them come back or not,” said Abdul Khan of Masjid At-taqwa “I have to tell them to come back as soon as possible.”
Both said they attended a community meeting at the Brand Lane Islamic Center in Stafford that included representative of some area police departments. Sugar Land and Missouri City police declined to comment for this story.
Executive order unprecedented, legal experts say
Arsalan Safiullah, staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Houston, said his organization and other attorneys were scrambling over the weekend to respond to the order . He said he spent time at Bush Intercontinental Airport checking on whether any detainees needed assistance.
“The story was unfolding so quickly we were unsure how the customs officers were going to interpret the executive order,” he said.
The order also suspended entry of refugees from Syria indefinitely, suspended the Visa Waiver Program and capped the number of refugees entering the country in fiscal year 2016-17 at 50,000 compared to the 110,000 target set by the previous administration. The order said the suspension was to allow for an examination of security screening measures.
A day after the order was signed, Judge Ann Donnelly in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York issued a stay of removal that prevented valid visa-holders and refugees from the affected countries already detained or in transit to the U.S. from being denied entry into the country.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said 872 refugees would be arriving and processed for waivers this week. DHS Secretary John Kelly met with Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday for a conversation on Texas’ southern border. Abbott has not yet issued a statement on the travel restrictions.
Ali Zakaria, a Houston-based immigration attorney, said the order was unlike anything he had seen in more than 20 years practicing law. As for the Syrian refugees who had been granted asylum already, Zakaria said they are in legal limbo.
“There have been a lot of lawsuits filed and we’ll have to see what the court finds,” he said.
After spending two days at Bush Intercontinental with other volunteer lawyers, Zakaria said he is representing a Jordanian teenager referred to in news reports as a student at Katy High School. Zakaria’s office confirmed the client is the same case reported on.
Coming to the Lone Star State
Maryam Islamic Center is in New Territory in Sugar Land's extraterritorial jurisdiction.[/caption]Muslims and refugees are no strangers to Texas. The 2010 U.S. Religious Census determined that the state had the largest Muslim population of any in the nation while in fiscal year 2015-16 Texas resettled 7,803 refugees, the second-highest state behind California, according to the Pew Research Center.
In Fort Bend County, Muslims accounted for nearly 3 percent of the population in 2010, roughly equivalent to that of Harris County, according to the Religious Census. It ranked 11th out of 35 Texas counties in the census for its number of Islam adherents—17,794 that year.
Safiullah said that of the approximately 17 phone calls he received Saturday from people of largely Southeast Asian and Pakistani descent, at least half were from Sugar Land.
“Just people were worried about where they stand,” he said. “We got calls from citizens, we got calls from green card holders. They were unsure of what was going to happen to them.”
Khan and Wadiwala both said their centers have members from the affected countries in the restrictions, although Khan said the majority of his center’s membership is from the Indian subcontinent and Pakistan region.
Why these 7 countries?
The countries identified in the travel ban had previously been designated “countries of concern” by DHS and were given new Visa Waiver Program eligibility requirements in the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015. The act was signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2016 but did not ban all travel from those countries, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol website.
The only travelers permitted from the seven countries were people with diplomatic or certain governmental organization visas.
Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen are majority-Muslim countries and the executive order states that refugees from the countries can be admitted on a basis with priority given to those who are a religious minority. During the presidential campaign, Trump supported a ban on Muslim immigrants to the U.S. but the White House has said the recent restrictions are not a “Muslim” ban.
The executive order states its purpose is to prevent individuals with terrorist ties and foreign nationals with intentions to commit terrorist acts from entering the country. The order cites the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and “numerous foreign-born individuals” who were “convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes” since 9/11 who entered on student, visitor or employment visas as motivation for tightening the country’s visa and refugee resettlement programs.
Of the 19 attackers identified in the terrorist attacks on 9/11, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Lebanon and one was from Egypt—none of which are included on the list of countries in Friday’s restrictions.
Differing opinions
Although protests were held in multiple cities around the country Saturday and Sunday to protest the president’s order, a Reuters/Ipsos online opinion poll of 1,201 people in 50 states was nearly split on the issue. About 49 percent of respondents supported the restrictions and about 41 percent opposed them, according to the results.
Masjid At-taqwua is off Synott Road in Sugar Land.[/caption]U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz supported the executive order while Sen. John Cornyn said in a Facebook post that he opposed a blanket ban of immigrants based on religion.
Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, has denounced the executive order while U.S Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, was less clear on his stance.
“While I support the President’s overall goal to tighten our screening process, we must take deliberate and decisive steps to achieve this goal,” Olson said in a statement Monday.
Back in Sugar Land, Wadiwala said his facility has received words of encouragement from Jewish and Christian community members. Maryam Islamic Center also posted on its Facebook page Sunday a letter from a family saying they had donated to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in the center’s name.
“They are giving us reassurance that we are with you and we know what you’re going through,” he said.
Khan said the best advice he can give his center’s members is to remain calm and live their lives as normal, but to remain vigilant. He said no one has stopped coming to the center for prayer or other services.
“I have not seen anger, frustration among my people,” he said. “They are family-oriented people.”
