By JACL National
The Jan. 31 addition of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania expands the number of countries affected by the Muslim Ban to 13. Similar to the first ban, the people impacted are predominantly Muslim. But these new additions will also affect those fleeing persecution in places such as Myanmar. That these announcements have come in the same week as the three-year anniversary of the issuance of the first Muslim Ban and Holocaust Memorial Day is reprehensible.
We cannot recall the holocaust without acknowledging our country’s role in refusing holocaust refugees entry. As we now repeat the same mistake through this expanding and misguided policy, it would behoove us to question its validity and effectiveness. Since the implementation of the first Muslim Ban, families have been forced to live apart, college students’ studies have halted and lives have even been lost because of the restrictions. What has this ban truly done to protect our country?
The ban is a source of particular pain to the Japanese American community. The Supreme Court upheld the ban in its 2018 decision on the basis of national security. This was the exact same rationale used to uphold the World War II incarceration of nearly 120,000 people, many of whom were citizens because of our national ancestry.
The fact that Chief Justice John Roberts went out of his way to repudiate the Korematsu decision was ironic in the decision’s reaffirmation of discrimination on the basis of national origin under the guise of national security. In neither case has the government been able to prove an actual security threat.
The expansion of the Muslim Ban continues a pattern of discrimination by this country against communities of color as also seen in the policies of family separation and incarceration, changes to the public charge definition and, most recently, subjecting American citizens of Iranian ancestry to additional screening at the Canadian border.
Having experienced the sting of restrictions on Asian immigration in the past, JACL opposes these broad attacks on immigration, which stand in direct opposition to the ideals upon which this country was founded that we have yet to truly uphold.
