Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden talks about reopening the country during a speech in Darby, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 2020.
Jim Watson | AFP | fake pictures
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden promised Monday that if he is elected president, he will end President Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim travel ban on his first day in office.
“I will end the Muslim ban on the first day. The first day. And I will work with Congress to pass hate crime laws like the Jabara-Heyer Hateless Law and the Law to End Racial and Religious Profile,” Biden told the attendees of the Million Muslim Votes Summit, an online conference organized by Emgage Action, the country’s largest Muslim-American political group.
One of Trump’s first actions as president in 2017 was to suspend entry to the United States of travelers from seven major Muslim nations – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen – for 90 days. The executive order created chaos at airports around the world, and lawsuits against the ban quickly emerged.
After federal judges banned the implementation of the first ban, Trump issued a second ban that was also quickly enforced in federal courts.
The White House issued a third version of the ban in the fall of 2017, and it applied to six major Muslim countries and two non-major Muslim countries. The following year, the Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of the third prohibition, which is still in force today.
Speaking Monday, Biden said that Muslim communities “were the first to sense Donald Trump’s assault on black and brown people with his vile Muslim ban. That fight was the opening barrage in what has been nearly four years of constant pressure , insults and attacks “by Trump against minorities.
Biden noted the increase in reported hate crimes in the United States in the past three years and several recently announced Trump political appointees who have openly expressed Islamophobic views.
“Donald Trump has fanned the flames of hatred in this country across the board,” Biden said, “through his words, his policies, his appointments, and his actions.”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Courtney Parella told CNBC: “President Trump understands that our faith is what unites us as a nation. He has defended and will continue to firmly defend the religious liberties of all Americans.”
Biden currently leads Trump an average of 8.6 points in national polls, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average. And while the Muslim survey is limited, a 2018 Pew Research survey found that only 13% of American Muslims identified as Republicans, a number that has changed little in the past decade.
However, so far in his reelection campaign, Trump has shown little interest in reaching out to groups that have traditionally not supported him, choosing instead to advocate on issues like Confederate monuments and law enforcement that excite his base.
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