President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the United Nation’s international migration assistance efforts is a climate science denier who said the “Muslim faith” instructs its followers to commit violent acts, that allowing a large number of Syrian refugees into the U.S. is “foolish and delusional,” and that Christians from dangerous areas should often be given preferential resettlement treatment.

Ken Isaacs, Trump’s nominee for the director general post at the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) — which spends nearly $1 billion to assist migrants around the world — has a history of making such disparaging and dangerous remarks on social media and radio appearances, according to the Washington Post. After Post reporters reached out to the State Department seeking comment, Isaacs’ Twitter account was made private and he apologized in a statement and pledged to “hold myself to the highest standards of humanity, human dignity and equality if chosen to lead IOM.”

Isaacs is the latest person tapped by the Trump administration to lead an important government post with a history of making disparaging remarks against Muslims. Since Trump took office, incidents of Islamophobia and harassment have surged dramatically in the United States, according to a new report from the organization South Asian Americans Leading Together.

Last Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Trump’s first iteration of an executive order banning immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries, which sparked confusion, legal battles, and a wave of protests at airports around the country.


According to the Washington Post, Isaacs is the vice president of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, which is led by controversial evangelist Rev. Franklin Graham, who once connected the murder of Christians abroad to the “persecution” of religious Americans who want to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Isaacs advocated for the U.S. and Europe to provide more aid in stopping the Ebola outbreak that ravaged Sierra Leone, Guinea, and LIberia in 2014 and visited a mostly Syrian refugee camp in Greece in 2015, the Post reported.

On Facebook, he wrote about listening to the stories of refugees at the camp and showing them the “unconditional love of Christ.” He also described Obama’s desire to accept a large number of Syrian refugees as a “foolish and delusional” attempt to “show cultural enlightenment” and that there are violent men in the group, the Post reported.

He also wrote on Twitter in 2015 that Christian Syrian refugees should be the first priority and that “If Islam is a religion of peace, let’s see 2 million Muslims in National Mall marching against jihad & stand for America! I haven’t seen it!”

Following the London terrorist attack in June, Isaac reposted a CNN International story and responded to a Catholic bishop who was quoted as saying the Muslim faith does not ask people to carry out such attacks. According to the Post, Isaac wrote: “CNN, Bishop if you read the Quran you will know ‘this’ is exactly what the Muslim faith instructs the faithful to do.”