WASHINGTON — After President Donald Trump announced his ban on travel from certain Muslim countries, Mustafa Abdi heard from his 10-year-old son Ali.
“He said, ‘Dad, are we going to be kicked out of this country soon?'” Abdi recalled. “I told him, ‘No. We’re Americans. You were born here.'”
Abdi, president of Muslims for Peace in Monroe Township, was one of more than a dozen representatives of New Jersey’s Muslim community who spent Tuesday afternoon meeting with members of the state’s congressional delegation.
“There is this constant concern and fear and pain throughout the communities in the state of New Jersey,” said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th Dist.), who set up the meeting following Trump’s executive order targeting Syrian refugees visitors from seven Muslim countries, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.
N.J. lawmakers to meet with Muslims
Almost every member of the state’s congressional delegation, both Democrats and Republicans, criticized the order, which has been blocked by a federal appeals court. A Gallup poll released earlier this month said a majority of U.S. adults opposed the action.
The meeting drew both U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, as well as most of the state’s Democratic members of the House. One Republican, Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.), who was the first GOP House member from New Jersey to criticize the order, also attended.
“It’s important to recognize we’re a country of many different religious faiths,” Lance said.
Muslims talked about reports of being profiled at airports due to their religion. Sami Shaban, a member of the board of the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University, which counts 5,000 Muslims on its three campuses, showed a picture of a poster that showed the shadows of the World Trade Center towers with the slogan, “Imagine a Muslim-free America.”
Though Trump cited the 19 terrorists who hijacked four planes on 9/11 in issuing the order, he did not include Saudi Arabia and the other countries where the attackers came from, nor any Muslim countries where Trump’s companies do business.
During his campaign, Trump called for a ban on admitting Muslims.
“Our community has risen and said, ‘Enough is enough,” said Ashraf Latif, president of the Masjid and Community Center in Newark.
Lawmakers discussed their role in protecting the state’s Muslims.
“It must be what we talk about,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th Dist.).
Booker said he would make sure his 2.4 million Twitter followers and his other social media followers knew of the mistreatment of Muslims. He likened it to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when the nation was outraged after seeing officials like Birmingham, Ala., Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor responding to peaceful protests with fire hoses and police dogs.
“I don’t want acts of hate crimes not to be exposed,” Booker said after the meeting. “The more people recognize what’s going on, I don’t think hate can stand the light.”
Watson Coleman and Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-10th Dist.) said they would use their seats on the House Homeland Security Committee to question any Trump administration actions targeting Muslims.
“We’re going to use our seats at the table to push the discussion where it needs to be,” Watson Coleman said. “There are spaces where we can operate.”
Payne recalled a recent meeting with the new Homeland Security secretary, John Kelly, in which he kept referring to Trump’s executive order as a Muslim ban.
“He’s going to remember who that guy was from New Jersey,” Payne said.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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