Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, speaks at the Islamic Center of Virginia. (Photo by Mac Konrad)
On Thursday at the Islamic Center of Virginia, Bashir al Asad, a Yemeni immigrant and a local educator and businessman, described his experience of being an immigrant in America. Asad talked about his love of American ideals such as freedom of speech and religion, and he shared the role that Yemeni immigrants have played throughout American history in conflicts such as World War I.
He spoke during a forum organized in response to the recent U.S.Supreme Court decision upholding the Trump administration’s ban on travel from seven countries, including Yemen, five of which are majority Muslim. (The others are North Korea, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Venezuela.) Asad ended by addressing President Trump directly: “Mr. President you may have won this fight, but you will not win this war. Hope will always win over fear."
At Thursday’s forum, members from the ACLU of Virginia and the Islamic Center broke down the ramifications of the travel ban and answered questions from the audience. Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the travel ban deliberately targets Muslims. She compared the travel ban to other controversial historical periods in the U.S., such as the Jim Crow era of government-enforced segregation and Japanese internment during World War II. She referred to the decision as our “Korematsu moment.”She said that the ACLU will fight the ban both in and out of court, but it will be an uphill battle. “We’re gonna have to raise our voices very loud,” Gastañaga said.
The evening also included a discussion among the attendees about the effects of the travel ban and how they should move forward. The speakers ended by stressing how important immigrants are to the U.S. “The history of the U.S. is endowed by immigrants,” Asad said.