Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: Muslim Americans testify at first ever hearing on Trump’s Muslim Ban, as China’s treatment of Uighurs is condemned en masse at the UN. An essay analyzes Trump’s recent appearance with Indian PM Modi, another asks why an ‘expert from a hate group’ was allowed to testify at the Muslim Ban hearing. Our recommended read today is by David Scott Mathieson on the dwindling chances of a return for the Rohingya. This, and more, below:
Bangladesh
Opinion | The Rohingya’s Right of No Return | Recommended Read
Why, then, are there so many Rohingya still in Bangladesh two years after the mass exodus, especially since the government struck a repatriation plan with Myanmar in early 2018? Because many refugees don’t want to return. Because Myanmar doesn’t want them back. And because foreign governments don’t much care. Even as they call for the refugees’ return — which is an impossibility in the near term — those countries are nursing their economic and political relationships with the Myanmar government. The United Nations itself has shown little leadership throughout. Earlier this year, an independent report by Gert Rosenthal, a former foreign minister of Guatemala — which the organization had commissioned — described the United Nations’ “dysfunctional performance” in Myanmar, calling it a “systemic failure.” A special fact-finding mission issued a final report last week after a two-year investigation, pointedly referring to the Rohingya who remain in Rakhine as potential targets for genocide. read the complete article
Myanmar, Bangladesh, China Call for ‘Working Group’ to Make Progress on Rohingya Issue
Representatives from Myanmar, Bangladesh, and China called this week for enhanced cooperation in repatriating Rohingya refugees now living in camps in Bangladesh back to their homes in Myanmar, saying political will is needed now to move the issue forward, media reports said. Meeting informally on Monday on the sidelines of U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, and Myanmar Minister of the State Counselor’s Office Kyaw Tint Swe also called for the creation of a trilateral working group “mechanism” to oversee repatriation efforts. read the complete article
United States
Despite Muslim ban, President Trump says 'religious freedom' is one of his highest priorities
On Monday at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump said "protecting religious freedom is one of my highest priorities and always has been." Morning Joe points out that these remarks contradict President Trump's Muslim ban. Watch more in this mashup documenting Trump's previous comments on Muslims. read the complete article
Muslim Americans testify on effects of Trump's travel ban
Trump administration officials appearing before the congressional panel sought to defend the policy in the face of evidence of the travel ban's continuing discriminatory effects on Muslim Americans and their families. Under procedures of the ban, individuals from the listed countries cannot obtain visas to come to the US unless they can demonstrate hardship, their entry to the US would not pose a national security threat and their entry would be in the national interest of the US. Only five percent of visa applicants are granted waivers, according to US government data. read the complete article
GOP Brings Expert From Hate Group to House’s First-Ever Hearing on Trump’s Muslim Ban
At the hearing, conducted jointly by the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs subcommittees, Democratic members of the committee invited people impacted by the ban and experts like Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates. For their expert, Republicans invited Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies (“CIS”), an anti-immigrant hate group that’s tied to and has promoted countless white nationalist, as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. read the complete article
What does Trump get out of appearing with Modi and appealing to Indian Americans — a group that largely disapproves of him?
Modi has made global headlines for some of his actions toward Muslims, a religious group Trump famously sought to ban from immigrating to the United States. Human rights activists have protested recent decisions by Modi’s ruling party that could remove citizenship from more than 4 million Muslims and put some in detention camps. This past summer, Modi ended statehood for India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, and arrested many of the region’s local leaders. Trump received sustained applause when he vowed to stop illegal immigration. But assuming the president’s position on the issue is widely shared among Indian Americans would be misguided. The majority — 65 percent — of Indian Americans said they strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to have an opportunity to eventually become U.S. citizens, according to the 2016 Post-Election National Asian American Survey. read the complete article
During first two years of ‘Muslim ban,’ Trump administration granted few waivers
Since the initial rollout, in early 2017, of what critics and federal judges have branded a “Muslim ban,” the Trump administration has fielded approximately 72,000 visa applications from the citizens of Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Syria, a U.S. State Department official told members of Congress on Tuesday. Approximately 10 percent of those applicants — 7,679 — have received waivers to enter the United States, according to Edward Ramotowski, deputy assistant secretary for visa services at the department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, who testified during a House judiciary and foreign affairs subcommittee hearing. read the complete article
International
Opinion | The murder that shook the world
The incident's wide-ranging importance is evident in the snowball effect that undermined the status of Saudi Arabia in Washington to an extent never seen before. In recent months, American legislators from both parties introduced several resolutions that not only challenged the Saudi policy in Yemen but also paved the way to the condemnation of Riyadh’s human rights abuses. US senators went to the extent of voting to block arms sales worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to send a strong signal to both governments. Through his executive powers, President Trump managed to circumvent congressional sanctions for the time being, however, many experts believe that the US-Saudi partnership has been damaged and that a complete overhaul of this partnership is a real possibility should a Democrat be elected president in 2020. read the complete article