NEW YORK, Jul 21 (APP):Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has pledged to overturn President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting several predominantly Muslim countries on his first day in office if elected president.
“Muslim communities were the first to feel Donald Trump’s assault on Black and brown communities in this country with his vile Muslim ban,” Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said while addressing Emgage Action, the largest Muslim political group in the United States.
“That fight was the opening barrage in what has been nearly four years of constant pressure and insults, and attacks against Muslim American communities,” he added.
Trump placed travel restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries in January 2017, shortly after he took office. The president argued that the travel ban was for national security purposes. Officials added several non-Muslim-majority countries to the list as it faced a number of legal challenges, and it was upheld by the Supreme Court. In his remarks, Biden went on to hit Trump’s treatment of the Muslim community, saying he was responsible for the rise of Islamophobia in the U.S.
“Donald Trump has fanned the flames of hate in this country across the board through his words, his policies, his appointments, his deeds, and he continues to fan those flames,” Biden said. “Under this administration, we’ve seen an unconscionable rise in Islamophobia.”
The former vice president’s remarks came shortly after Emgage Action formally endorsed Biden in a letter to supporters. The online Million Muslim Vote Summit was organized by Emgage Action as part of a campaign to have one million Muslim voters cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential elections.
“We’re putting our trust in you,” Khurrum Wahid, a Pakistani-American who is the chairperson for Emgage Action’s board, told Biden. “We have a swing state strategy and we will deliver for you Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. We will activate large groups of voters in Texas and Arizona. We will turn out one million votes nationally. We’re going to ask everyone we know to ‘vote Joe’ on November 3rd.” Biden, who spoke for about 10 minutes on Monday and did not answer questions, described Islam as “one of the great confessional faiths” and decried recent spikes in hate crimes as well as appointments of government officials with histories of anti-Muslim comments.
Also on Monday, a group of Muslim elected officials including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, published a letter endorsing the candidate.
The summit was also joined by Democratic politicians and Muslim activists, including Ms. Omar, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, Congressman Andy Kim, Congressman Andy Levin, former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Muslim activist Linda Sarsour, among others.
“This upcoming presidential election is arguably the most important one within our lifetime,” said Emgage Action CEO Wa’el Alzayat. “We cannot afford another four years of a Trump presidency. Muslim American communities are organizing like never before to maximize our voter turnout and to ensure that our voices are represented.” “Your voice is your vote, your vote is your voice,” Biden said. “Muslim Americans’ voices matter … but we all know that your voice hasn’t always gotten recognized and represented. That’s your right as a citizen.” Under his administration, Biden vowed, that would change.
But other speakers also emphasized the need for Muslims to put pressure on elected officials and make their political priorities known beyond November.
“If Donald Trump is no longer the president I hope that you as Muslim Americans are ready for the long road ahead of us to make sure that our issues are on the agenda,” said Ms. Sarsour. “We want to see Joe Biden in the White House, but we also want Joe Biden to know that we will hold him accountable to our communities.” Biden, who has also been endorsed by Gold Star father Khizr Khan, the Pakistani-American father of a soldier killed in the Iraq war. He previously launched a “Muslims for Biden” volunteer affinity group and published an agenda on Muslim American communities.
In March, Biden’s campaign appointed Emgage founding board member Farooq Mitha, formerly the national Muslim outreach director for Clinton’s campaign, as Biden’s senior adviser on Muslim American engagement. Mitha joined the Biden team after the campaign faced backlash over its Muslim engagement coordinator, staffer Amit Jani, at the time.
Amit Jani, the campaign’s National Asian American Pacific Islander outreach director, is not Muslim. He also has close ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been widely criticized for his Hindu nationalist agenda and for his role in deadly anti-Muslim violence in India.
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