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June 27, 2018
NHLA Denounces the Supreme Court’s Endorsement of Discrimination
The Supreme Court Upholds Trump’s Travel Ban
Washington, D.C.-- Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States legitimized discrimination, xenophobia, and Islamophobia in upholding the Trump administration’s travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 45 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, denounces the regrettable decision that now validates this administration’s decision to enact policies “motivated by hostility and animus toward the Muslim faith,”* in the name of national security. This is an especially dangerous precedent because it normalizes and enables judgments based on bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance to guide our customs and immigration policies. In examining the executive order in isolation of the xenophobic remarks made by the President, the 5-4 Court ruling indicates its acceptance of bigotry against minority groups, and its unwillingness to fulfill its constitutional duty to hold a co-equal branch of government accountable. The highest court of the land has erred before; Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent points to Korematsu v. United States, the 1944 decision that endorsed the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
“Our Constitution and the values and principles it embodies are far stronger than the majority decision suggests; these principles do not end at our national border, but must be reflected in how we treat those who wish to come to our nation as temporary or permanent immigrants,” said Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA Chair and MALDEF President and General Counsel. “The Congress must act to overturn this abominable decision and to rein in the policies that Donald Trump has implemented out of his own religious bigotry and anti-Muslim bias.”
“The Muslim ban, separation of families on the border, and the rise of alt-right nationalism, all of this is the construct of President Trump’s xenophobic and racist agenda. The Supreme Court’s latest ruling enables him to continue blanket discrimination by banning Muslims and opens the door for new forms of discrimination. As we continue fighting for civil rights, we recognize how today’s ruling highlights the importance of intersectional organizing and litigation to resist this onslaught on our communities. It is because of this that we stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters against the Trump administration’s persecution of religious groups and criminalization immigrant children in the name of national security,” said Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
“It is disturbing that the Supreme Court has been contaminated by the anti-Muslim extremism emanating from the White House. This decision is simply a legitimization and continuation of Islamophobia and intolerant policies that we have endured from President Trump,” said Hector Sanchez Barba, Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). “We will continue our fight through strong civic participation initiatives to ensure our democracy continues to uphold the values and principles that this nation was founded on, and reflects the true diversity of our nation.”
“We are appalled that our highest court failed to protect the basic human rights of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and communities fleeing violence and persecution. It is crystal clear that Trump’s Muslim Ban is based on bigotry, xenophobia and islamophobia. With today’s decision, the Supreme Court has kept the door opened for Trump and his cronies to continue waging war against immigrant communities, and discriminating against people in the United States because of race, religion, ethnicity or country of origin. NLIRH will continue to fight against this administration’s repugnant nativist agenda,” said Jessica González-Rojas, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), Vice Chair of NHLA and co-chair of the Latina Task Force and the Health Committee.
“Yesterday’s Trump v. Hawaii decision, which upholds the Administration’s third Muslim Ban, is an intolerant and immoral decision predicated on undue deference to an overreaching branch of government, and places the false ideal of ‘strict scrutiny’ above the equal protection, due process, and religious freedom rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution,” said Erica V. Mason, HNBA National President. “The HNBA proudly joined the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law & Equality in filing amicus briefs opposing Executive Order 13870 in the Hawaii District Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court; and we will continue to lend our support to efforts to litigate and legislate a different result, to loudly voice our opposition, and to demand for legislation that will halt these xenophobic and hateful policies. The systematic mistreatment and attempted normalization of bias and hatred against Muslims is no different than what is happening to our immigrant community along our borders. It is intolerable and must stop now.”
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*As stated in the dissent by Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg
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