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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Donald Trump Jr. shows off ‘ancient symbol of war with Islam’ even as President Trump sets the U.S on a war path with Iran. In India, Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda faces its toughest test yet: students. Our recommended read today is by Ryan Devereaux on the U.S Border Agency’s targeting of Iranian Americans. This, and more, below:
United States
U.S Border Agency says it's not singling out Iranians. This family waited 11 hours and was asked about Iranian heritage | Recommended Read
Dozens of Iranian families, some including U.S. citizens, were detained and questioned at the U.S.-Canada border over the weekend, heightening concerns that the Trump administration’s recent actions in the Middle East could have serious consequences for Iranians living in the United States. Among those swept up in the ordeal, trapped in the no man’s land of a U.S. border office, was a young medical student and her family. read the complete article
A woman stole an exchange student’s hijab and tried to choke her with it, prosecutors say
A 24-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia was waiting for a train near the library in downtown Portland, Ore., shortly after 7 p.m. on Nov. 12, when she felt a stranger grabbing her hijab from behind, tightening the fabric around her neck. Jasmine Renee Campbell allegedly tried to choke the student, who is Muslim, with her hijab before the victim shoved the attacker away. Prosecutors said in a statement Campbell then ripped the woman’s hijab from her head. A probable cause affidavit says Campbell removed all of her clothes except for a leather jacket, “started dancing,” and rubbed the hijab against her “naked breasts” and “naked vagina.” The affidavit also alleges Campbell mocked the victim’s religion and made fun of her hijab. read the complete article
Donald Trump Jr shows off an ancient ‘symbol of war with Islam’ as his father puts America on the warpath with Iran
As his father was doubling down on his threat to destroy Iranian religious and cultural sites Donald Trump Jr. was proudly posting photos of his assault rifle featuring a symbol of a Christian religious war against Islam reportedly now used by white supremacists, according to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, and the Chair of a specialist group on political violence and terrorism. It also has the word “Crusader” emblazoned on it. The rifle also bears an image apparently of Hillary Clinton, the president’s former political opponent, behind bars. read the complete article
U.S. to start collecting DNA from people detained at border
The U.S. government on Monday launched a pilot program to collect DNA from people in immigration custody and submit it to the FBI, with plans to expand nationwide. In Detroit, people as young as 14 will be subject to DNA collection. The information would go into a massive criminal database run by the FBI, where it would be held indefinitely. A memo outlining the program published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security said U.S. citizens and permanent residents holding a “green card” who are detained could be subject to DNA testing, as well as asylum seekers and people entering the country without authorization. Refusing to submit DNA could lead to a misdemeanor criminal charge, the document said. read the complete article
International
Marco Rubio urges US Congress to pass Uygur bill to counter China’s crackdown in Xinjiang
The sponsor of US legislation backing democracy in Hong Kong has urged Congress to pass a bill to counter China’s crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang, as Washington and Beijing prepare to sign a deal to defuse trade tensions. Speaking to CBS on Sunday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – who last year introduced the bill that paves the way for sanctions against Chinese officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang – also said human rights issues should not be overlooked for the trade deal or be “intermingled” with geopolitical issues between the world’s two largest economies. “I will never accept the notion that somehow, in order to be able to sell them more things, we have to look the other way on some of the grotesque human rights violations that we’re seeing systemised on their part,” the Republican senator said. read the complete article
India
Blind student attacked in his bedroom during anti-Muslim university riots
A blind student was viciously beaten by masked thugs who broke into a university, in what eyewitnesses described as part of a wider attack on Muslim students. Research scholar Surya Prakash, 25, begged with his attackers and shouted that he was blind, but they continued to beat him around the head with a rod at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in India. The incident took place on Sunday night, as gangs of masked men burst through the university doors in Delhi and began attacking students, injuring more than 20 people. The violence comes amid rising tensions over the government’s changes to citizenship laws which protesters say are discriminatory towards Muslims as well as over a rise in fees at the university. read the complete article
Muslims in fear as police crack down in India’s heartland
“I find myself on the street, staring at the concrete path where my son bled to death,” he said quietly, leaning against the exposed brick walls of his house in Nehtaur, a small north Indian town about 190 kilometers (120 miles) from New Delhi. read the complete article
Opinion | Modi’s agenda has met its fiercest opponent: India’s youths
Jawaharlal Nehru University is the most recent institution to become the epicenter of turmoil. Its student union president, Aishe Ghosh, was among at least 23 people, including teachers and students, hospitalized after being assaulted by a mob of masked assailants that rampaged through the campus on Sunday. Multiple videos captured men and women carrying iron rods, sticks and stones vandalizing property and attacking people. Ghosh was hit on the head with a rod. One video shows the assailants casually sauntering off the university campus with the brazen impunity of those who know they will get away with it. read the complete article
Why Hindu Nationalists Trialed India’s Citizenship Law in Assam
For Joynal Abedin, the process of trying to prove his citizenship became too much. Last year, Joynal left his family’s semi-permanent dwelling on a remote sand bar in the Brahmaputra River, one of many that form and re-form as silt washes down from the Himalayas, to go cut wood. He never returned. Joynal’s teenage son found his father’s lifeless body hanging from a tree. Today, the shadow of his loss hangs over the courtyard of their modest dwelling, witness to the isolation and exclusion that India’s rulers are inflicting on some of the country’s poorest, most marginalized people—in particular, the Bengali Muslim community, Muslims comprise about a third of the population of Assam. The family belonged to a group of residents of Assam 1.9 million-strong who were left off a new so-called National Register of Citizens (NRC), which has now become the state’s official record of a person’s “Indian-ness.” Assam’s dispossessed now stare into the abyss of statelessness. And the cruel absurdities abound: while Joynal’s name was left off the list, by no apparent logic Abdul’s was on it. read the complete article
Students In India Protest After University Attacked By Masked Assailants
A fresh wave of protests spread across India's biggest cities Monday, hours after masked assailants invaded dormitories on an elite university campus in the capital New Delhi and beat up students and faculty. The Indian Medical Association said doctors and nurses came under attack as they rushed to campus late Sunday to try to help. "How does it reflect on the nation, if it cannot protect its doctors and nurses reaching out to the injured?" the medical association's statement said. "What is the message that goes out to the world?" read the complete article