BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The leader of the Birmingham Islamic Society says his group “welcomes President-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to be the president of all Americans, including Muslims,” signaling the end of a contentious election cycle and, perhaps, the beginning of a season of cautious optimism.
Birmingham Islamic Society president Ashfaq Taufique submitted an op-ed to Alabama sports website and liberal political blog al.com urging “the President-elect to carefully consider his appointments to key positions in the White House and not appoint people with a track record of bigotry, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”
“We hope to have a presidency where people of faith should not have to fear for their safety just because they choose to cover their head with a scarf or because they pray at a mosque or a synagogue,” he said, adding that he and his group are “committed to joining the rest of our country to work together to bring reconciliation to a very divided nation.”
Muslim leaders frequently criticized President-elect Trump during the campaign for his various statements about stemming the flow of immigrants into the United States from regions that are rife with radical Islamic terrorism.
Most recently, some of President-elect Trump’s advisers have reportedly discussed reinstating a policy that would require individuals coming into the United States from such areas to register with the feds. But in spite of numerous erroneous reports, the registry system has nothing to do with travelers’ religion.
According to the New York Post, “a similar program, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, implemented after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, required ‘higher risk’ males over the age of 16 to be interrogated and to get fingerprinted. The program also required those in the registry to check in periodically.”
The Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security abolished the registry system in 2011.
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