‘An important first step’: Sacramento advocates celebrate repeal of Muslim travel ban
Muslim American advocates in Sacramento welcomed President Joe Biden’s repeal of the travel ban on predominantly Muslim and African countries, which many see as a hopeful first step towards ending family separation policies.
“We welcome the news,” said Oussama Mokeddem, policy director for the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We were very refreshed to hear language coming out of the White House that was not targeting Muslims and Africans around the world ... After four years of very tough news and bad news around every corner, it’s been an optimistic moment for advocates and community members around the nation.”
Biden repealed the travel ban late Wednesday, one of several executive orders issued on his first day in office. The so-called ‘Muslim ban’ was signed by former President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in 2017, restricting travel from countries with majority Muslim and African populations such as Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Sudan.
The order caused immediate chaos, stranding hundreds of immigrants and refugees in airports and sparking protests across the country. Despite a number of legal challenges, the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
“We hope these families can heal from the devastating impacts of this policy,” Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Sacramento, said in a statement Wednesday. “There is so much work to be done to right historical and more recent wrongs, but this is an important first step.”
In a statement, Biden condemned the “discriminatory” restrictions, calling them a “moral blight” and a blow to the country’s international relations.
“Those actions are a stain on our national conscience,” Biden wrote. “And they have separated loved ones, inflicting pain that will ripple for years to come. They are just plain wrong.”
In Sacramento, advocates cautiously cheered the move, saying they were relieved but underscoring the need for more work to be done, such as strengthening protections and ensuring paths to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and undocumented students.
“This is the floor and not the ceiling,” Mokeddem said. “This is the bare minimum. We’re still going to continue to hold the president and his administration accountable.”
Trump’s travel ban hit Sacramento families hard when it was first enacted in 2017. More than 60,000 Muslims live in Sacramento, Mokeddem said, and many of them have roots in the Syrian refugee community.
There are also thousands of Yemenis scattered throughout the Central Valley, Mokeddem said, especially in Fresno and Bakersfield. In 2018, a Yemeni mother was barred due to the travel ban from seeing her 2-year-old son, who was dying on life support in an Oakland hospital. The boy died just days after his mother was granted a visa waiver to enter the U.S.
Mokeddem emphasized that although many advocates see Biden’s repeal of the travel ban as a victory, such a policy should not have existed at all.
“The work of civil rights does not end with momentary good news,” Mokeddem said.