CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN THE USA

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN THE USA

DNA CORRESPONDENT | Sat, 19 Nov 2016-06:40am , DNA

US citizens now fear the possibility of a Muslim registry which Trump repeatedly mentioned throughout his campaign

With less than 100 days left before Donald Trump takes the oath of office as President of the United States, people are worried about what kind of future his promises portend. Throughout his campaign, Trump has repeatedly said he would start a Muslim registry, and now that seems like a real possibility.

In fact, just two days ago, Trump administration spokesperson Carl Higbie claimed there was judicial precedent for establishing a Muslim registry citing, of all things, the US’ World War II Japanese internment camps. The camps were responsible for uprooting scores of legal Japanese families, on the pretext of weeding out insurgents and spies. So, of course, Higbie’s comments have gone viral, and people are already planning civil disobedience actions.

For allies of the Muslim community, this means registering themselves on the government list. Trump’s administration hopes to resurrect the Bush-era National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), implemented shortly after the September 11 attacks and later suspended under Obama. NEERS was a database of non-citizen immigrants in the US from 25 countries, 24 of which were Muslim-majority nations. Reports indicate 83,000 Muslims were registered by 2003, of which a large number were made the subject of court cases, while most others were rounded up and deported for overstaying their visas.

And while the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has indicated it will fight Trump in courts if such a registry is reintroduced, most people are skeptical of the outcome and have decided to take action themselves. Many people in the US fear that, though unconstitutional, the government will also force legal Muslim-American citizens to register, opening up possibilities for discrimination and marginalization of the community as a whole. Not too far-fetched a fear, given Trump’s campaign rhetoric of xenophobia and racism.

So, in order to fight this kind of Muslim registry, people are calling on social media for supporters of the community to register themselves as Muslims, in the event such a law is passed. The plan is to confuse immigration officials with an excess of names on the list, that they would have to manually weed out in order to avoid legal backlash. It’s also meant as a show of solidarity towards the Muslim community, many of whom have felt unsafe since Trump’s election win.

There’s even a website, Register.us, that’s begun trending, which allows contributors to pledge that they will register themselves in the event of a Muslim registry. In addition The Forward, a US publication focused at American Jews, published a story by contributor Benjamin Gladstone.

Courtesy: DNA