June 20 is World Refugee Day ... does the U.S. care?

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BREAKING NEWS: June 20, 5:30 p.m. EDT -- Donald Trump signed an executive order this afternoon ending the policy of separating children from their parents. Come back to read a new post for updates and anallysis of what this 180-degree turn-around means.

TODAY (June 20) is World Refugee Day but does the current U.S. administration even care? People who came to this country and accepted as refugees in years past are now being deported, including those from Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in a statement that “We will continue to help the world's most vulnerable refugees, reflecting the deeply held values of the American people.”

Pompeo also said, “commitment to the world’s most vulnerable individuals remains a critical component of America’s national security policy.” 

The statement does not mention Central American refugees, focusing on Syria—though Trump banned Syrians from entering the United States—as well as the Rohingya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico are being detained in jail-like environments, their attempts to enter the U.S. legally to ask for asylum is being blocked and thwarted physically and their children are being ripped away from them and kept in cages where workers are not allowed to comfort them.

Yesterday, the U.S. also formally quit the United Nations Human Rights Council. The explanation was supposedly because of the council's continued criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians but it also occurred the day after the human rights body criticized Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy towards asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border crossings that includes the separation of children from their parents.

The number of refugees entering the United States each month has declined sharply so far in fiscal 2017, falling from 9,945 in October 2016 to 3,316 in April 2017, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data.

By executive order of Donald Trump, the number of refugees being accepted annually by the U.S. has been cut in more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000.

Despite Trump's zero-tolerance policy, asylum-seekers are still forming unusually long lines at the Mexican border, with parents and children sleeping on cardboard in the sweltering heat and waiting for days or even weeks to present themselves to U.S. inspectors, according to the Associated Press.

“You must come every day to see if it’s your turn. If you don’t come, you’ll lose your place in line,” said Teresa Ramirez from El Salvador. After waiting 20 days, Ramirez got her turn at the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico.

Lawyers said asylum-seekers at the Nogales, Arizona, crossing are camping out for up for five days to make a claim.

At the Hidalgo, Texas, border crossing, parents and children sleep on cardboard on a bridge separating the two countries, waiting for U.S. authorities to signal their time has come, according to volunteers bringing them food and water.

So, is Pompeo's proclamation about America's "commitment to the world's most vulnerable," a cruel joke?

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Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for Secretary of State, alarms Muslim Americans

DONALD TRUMP's nominee for Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, is no stranger to the Muslim American community.

“Mike Pompeo has made a career of bigotry and hate. This announcement should concern every congress member and American who values religious freedom," said Scott Simpson, public advocacy director at Muslim Advocates.

Trump selection of Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson, who Trump fired two days ago, has set off alarm bells among Muslim/Americans

"This not a man who can be trusted in the cabinet, and we urge members of the Senate to speak up against this announcement,” said Simpson of Muslim Advocates, a civil rights organization the works to guarantee freedom and justice for all Americans.

Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged opposition to the nominations of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state.

"Those, like Mr. Pompeo, who have expressed Islamophobic views and have been associated with an anti-Muslim hate group, or like Ms. Haspel, who personally oversaw the torture of detainees, should have no role in our nation's government, let alone at the highest levels of policy-making," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

In 2016, then-congressman Mike Pompeo spoke at a "Legislative Briefing" for the notorious anti-Muslim hate group ACT for America. At that time, the hate group's website noted that "the next CIA Director Rep. Mike Pompeo has been a steadfast ally of ours since the day he was elected to Congress."

Pompeo, who received the ACT for America "National Security Eagle Award for 2016," also reserved the auditorium for its event and previously addressed the hate group's national conferences in 2013 and 2015.

In 2010, Pompeo defended one of his campaign staffers who posted a link to a blog that used the racial slur "turban topper" in reference to his opponent, who was of South Asian ancestry, and called President Obama an "evil muslim [sic] communist USURPER."

In 2013, following the Boston Marathon attacks, Pompeo falsely alleged that American Muslim leaders were "potentially complicit" in terrorists acts for failing to speak out.

"Silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts," said Pompeo.

As activist Anai Rhoads noted in the Huffington Post, Muslim leaders worked closely with law enforcement to thwart potential attacks, and immediately following the attack they spoke up against the act.
“The Boston attacks occurred on April 15 at approximately 2:49 p.m. The Universal Muslim Association of America spoke out against the attacks at 5:17 p.m.; the Muslim Public Affairs Council at 5:53 p.m.; the Council on American-Islamic Relations at  7:46 p.m.; the Muslim Peace Coalition 8 p.m. and the Muslim American Society Public Affairs and Engagement 10:52 p.m." Rhoads wrote. "The only organization which moderately delayed a response was the Islamic Society of North America, and that was 12:09 a.m. on April 16.”

At that time, CAIR called on Pompeo to correct his "false and irresponsible" attack on Muslim leaders and sent him a letter containing dozens of anti-terror statements of the type he incorrectly claimed Muslims had failed to make. Pompey, in a statement, said he was “not backing down.”

When Mike Pompeo was nominated to be Donald Trump's CIA Director the ACLU published this graphic.

Following the 2016 election, CAIR expressed concern about a "troubling Islamophobic trend" in then President-elect Donald Trump's recent appointments and nominations, including the appointment of Pompeo as CIA director.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Pompeo was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010, representing Kansas state during the era of the Tea Party, the ultra-conservative branch of the Republican Party.

He ran against Democratic candidate Raj Goyle, a lifelong Kansas resident and son of Hindu-Indian immigrants.

That didn't stop Pompeo from posting a link to a blog on his campaign's Facebook page that called Goyle "just another turban topper we don't need in Congress or any political office that deals with the US Constitution, Christianity and the United States of America!"

The slur was written by Bob Pinkstaff of Wichita, a retired US military serviceman. The remarks came after Goyle "dodged" a question about his religion during a debate before the 2010 election.

Goyle called Pompeo out for sharing the blog, saying the "bigoted attack" went "beyond the rules of engagement in politics." Pompey apologized, saying it was "inadvertently posted," but the damage was one.

Corey Saylor, CAIR's former director monitoring Islamophobia, told Al Jazeera that Pompeo being appointed secretary of state is a "continuation of the troubling policies we've seen coming out of the Trump administration".

Hoda Hawa, director of policy and advocacy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, called Pompeo a “divisive” figure whose confirmation would further erode American Muslims’ trust in their government.

“As the top diplomat for the United States, it is crucial that the Secretary of State carries out a foreign policy agenda that doesn’t marginalize American communities,” Hawa told HuffPost in an email. “Pompeo has shown, both as a Member of Congress and as the CIA Director, that his personal feelings inform his policies.”

“All Americans, especially American Muslims, need a Secretary of State that is willing to push back” against the “rising tides of anti-American sentiment and Islamophobia that is spreading overseas in response to the Trump Administration’s American First and anti-Muslim policy agenda,” said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs for CAIR.
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