Islamophobic Incidents at US Borders 'Rise By 1,000%' Since Trump Took Office
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said preliminary data collated from its branches across the country, found that instances in which officials were accused of profiling Muslims accounted for 23 per cent of its caseload in the first three months of 2017.
Of the 193 CBP cases recorded from January-March 2017, 181 were reported after the January 27 signing of the Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States Executive Order, also known as the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban. In the first three months of 2016, the group reported 17 cases.
"These are incidents which are reported to us and which we examine,” Corey Saylor, director of CAIR’s group that monitors alleged Islamophobia, told The Independent. "We look at these very carefully. Around 50 per cent, we we reject.”Mr Saylor said allegations of Islamophobia being levelled at border officials was nothing new. Yet, he said he believed the election of Mr Trump and the signing of two executive orders designed to crackdown on undocumented migrants and to refuse entry to citizens from six Muslim-majority countries, was behind the spike in incidents.
"I have no doubt in my mind that these things are connected,” he said.
In the aftermath of Trump’s orders, which have been halted by the courts, there were widespread reports of chaos at US airports, and of people being turned away as they sought to board flights to the US at foreign airports.
