The Leadership of Ilhan Omar - Representing voices of refugees

Abstract

A week after his presidency began in 2017, Donald Trump passed an Executive Order travel ban which became more widely known as the Muslim Ban[1]. The Travel Ban is an executive order that prohibits seven Muslim-majority countries from entering into the United States. The Executive order was a policy delivered on the back of Trump’s Campaign trail rhetoric, being based on religious biasness, and racial and discriminatory migration policies that targeted refugees and immigrants. Three of the Muslim states listed in the ban are in Africa: Somalia, Libya and Sudan. The ban had immense impacts on Muslim communities by separating families and refugees depicted as a security threat.[2] As a result of this policy and accompanied negative political rhetoric, refugees have been left feeling marginalised and discriminated against.

[1] Ayoub, A. and Beydoun, K. (2016), ‘Executive disorder: The Muslim Ban, emergency advocacy, and the fires next time,’ Michigan Journal of Race and Law, 22, p.215

[2] Ibid