Jim Sues Shares Potential Impact of Trump's Travel Ban

Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations - New Jersey Chapter, Jim Sues, talks about the Trump administration’s travel ban blocking citizens of 7 Muslim-majority countries from entering the US and explains what this means for New Jersey.

4/8/17 #104

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome Jim Sues, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, New Jersey chapter. Good to see you back again Jim. Nice to be here. This is your first appearance, in fact, on State of Affairs. What is the state of affairs of those who are living in this state, or are trying to come to this state, who happen to have a Muslim background? By the way, tell everyone exactly what the Council is? The Council on American-Islamic Relations is a civil rights organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights, primarily, of Muslims in America. Okay so, take a step back. The state of those who fall into that category, particularly as it relates to the Trump Administration and their policies in this regard? Yeah. There's quite a bit of anxiety in the community right now. This executive order that enacted this travel ban has created that. But there is no travel ban. Right. Right. As we speak right now, in the beginning of March, 2017, there is no travel ban. The Ninth Circuit out in San Fransisco... the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals blocked that ban. Right. Right. So the ban itself, I mean, it doesn't necessarily have that much of an impact right now, of course, but the administration signaled what its intent is by, you know, signing that executive order. And by the way, excuse me, by the time this airs, there may be an amended version of that, so I don't want to date ourselves. So say they amend it? Right. What happens? Well, then we have another... another ban essentially. This executive order. And there'll be some sort of flavor of what we have now. Another court fight? Likely. Likely. And so what does it mean for...? Again, when we talk about state of affairs, it isn't just a public policy question. Right. It's for the actual people who are impacted by it. Right. Describe their lives. Right. Everyone, virtually, is impacted. Whether you have anything to do with those seven countries or not. Name those countries. Those... [laughter] Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, I think... I know... Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, and Iran. The administration is saying... now if they were to do this, we don't know for sure, but they would take Iraq out. Does it make a difference? Right. It doesn't really make a difference. I mean, you know, having Iraq on the list was really thoughtless. There are Iraqis who have risked their lives to help the US Military, and now we've told them we don't really care that you've done that. At least temporarily. We're saying all Iraqis are suspect, and a potential threat to the United States..."