Members of the North Shore Muslim community say they’re relieved and optimistic after former President Trump’s “Muslim ban” — which prohibited travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries — was terminated by an executive order on President Joe Biden’s first day in office.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” said Spiritual leader Fawaz Abusharkh of the Islamic Society of the North Shore, a community organization based in Lynn. Several of the families that he works with were directly affected by the ban.
“The hate and the bullying and the disrespect was all over the place, and it was emboldened by the administration,” Abusharkh said.
Trump made a series of anti-Muslim comments on his 2016 bid for the Presidency, including briefly agreeing to, then walking back on, the idea of a “Muslim database” and advocated for a complete ban on all Muslims from entering the country.
These positions, coupled with actual policies like the ban, passed as an executive order in 2017, made many Muslims feel unwelcome under his administration.
“We always have to defend ourselves, and explain to people that we are not bad,” said Abusharkh. “It’s just hard for the community.”
Rachid Moukhabir, and the founder of Moroccan American Connections in Revere (MACIR) and a Muslim man, said that the ban had a detrimental effect on the safety of American Muslims.
“Trump’s Muslim travel ban made us feel less American than others. As a result, we had been an easy target for racists around the country,” he said.
A study from the advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed 300 recorded cases of hate crimes against Muslims in 2017, the year that Trump signed the travel ban into law an increase of 15 percent.
In 2016, the year that Trump won the Presidency, the same report recorded a 44 percent annual increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes.
“Thanks to president Joe Biden for immediately ending this unethical and unconstitutional travel ban and making us feel home and safe again,” said Moukhabir.
The relief is shared by other members of the North Shore religious community including Pastor Jim Bixby from the Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead.
“As an American, I don’t believe that anyone should be excluded based on their religion from finding a home in America,” he said.
Bixby does intercongregational work with the Islamic community and saw the effects of Trump’s policies on Muslims.
“I felt for them over the last few years,” said Bixby. “Many of them faced some pretty deep anxieties. It was definitely insulting. This is a group of people that felt on the margins to begin with. People felt insulted, threatened, called out. “
“I have found so many people in the Islamic community to be such stand-up citizens,” Bixby added. “I welcome further collaboration and hope that they can find a home here in this religious plurality.”
Biden reversed several additional Trump administration policies on his first day in office through Executive order, including stopping the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization, rejoining the Paris climate accord, requiring non-citizens to be included in the Census and apportionment of congressional representatives, undoing Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement within the United States, and halting the construction of the border wall.
Abusharkh hopes that the changes made by the new administration will help reduce xenophobia and make Muslims feel more secure.
“Things like this take time to change,” he said. “We look at this as a positive and a step in the right direction, but it’s going to take a while and we need a strong push from the administration on immigration. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort.”