This week, our country took the unprecedented step to begin banning refugees and visa holders from entering the country from seven Muslim nations. This break from the long tradition of freedom and safe haven in the United States is now playing out at airports around the country.
Tonight, at Dulles International Airport, people who are green card holders, who hold lawful visas, and who have been vetted and passed through the refugee system at being held by Customs and Border Protection. They have been told that they will be turned around and flown back to their home countries. Let us not mince words – many of these people are fleeing violence, torture, and death. We are returning them back to that horror and we are turning our back on them.
We are a nation of laws. But today, those laws are being ignored. Whatever your opinions of the immigration system in this country, a system exists and it must be followed. Immigrants stopped at an airport, for whatever reason, are legally entitled express their need for refuge and to fight for refuge. They do so from government detention facilities. Not one of the people at Dulles is being afforded that right.
There must be an open public debate on how to reform American immigration law. Until that happens, however, the laws in place control. To ignore the law is to break the law.
CAIR Coalition is outraged at the lack of adherence to the law. CAIR Coalition is mobilized, along with many other nonprofits, to help those being held at Dulles. Join us and let your voice be heard.
