Protesters in Detroit denounce Trump travel ban, call for action

Frank Witsil | Detroit Free Press

A hastily organized protest Tuesday brought together more than 100 Michiganders — including candidates for office and a Dearborn Heights imam — who are opposed to a travel ban on predominately Muslim countries.

A divided Supreme Court had upheld the ban.

"They made it legal, but that doesn't mean it is moral," Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights said of the court and its decision. "It is an aggression on American integrity. It is absolutely immoral."

Protesters enthusiastically waved signs that denounced the ban and other immigration policies, and the chanted: "The people united will never be defeated," and "No ban, no wall," as speakers called for political action.

President Donald Trump had vowed to ban Muslims during his 2016 presidential campaign and continued his attacks on Twitter after his election.

The high court — in a 5-4 decision — said Tuesday that those statements did not constitute religious discrimination and reversed lower court decisions that had struck down the presidents travel ban as Illegal or unconstitutional.

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But, while the ruling was a political victory for Trump, it also helped galvanize voters opposed to the administration's immigration policies, spurring them to organize and vow to be more politically active.

"We came out to show our support for the impacted communities and to show the fight is not over," said Amy Doukoure, an attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan. "We are going to take it to Congress."

Congress has the power to overturn executive orders by passing legislation.

In addition, two Democratic candidates — Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for governor, and Rashida Tlaib, a former state house representative who is seeking to fill former U.S. Rep. John Conyers' seat in Congress — joined in the protest, using it as an opportunity to speak against Trump.

"I'm Muslim," said El-Sayed. "I know that our constitution guarantees me the right to pray how I choose to pray and to take aim at people of a particular faith, simply because they are aspirants of that faith and to take aim at folks who are coming from those countries, I think work against the highest ideals of our constitution."

And for some who showed up, the protest — which was promoted on social media with hashtags #standwithmuslims and #nomuslimbanever — was an opportunity to express their deep concern that Muslims in America are being targeted.

"With the current administration, Muslims are being seen in an even worse light than post 9/11," Aishah Gulam, 28, Canton, said. "We have to begin starting a dialogue about how dangerous this rhetoric is for the future as well as the current day."

But while some protested the Supreme Court decision Tuesday, some Michiganders supported the Supreme Court decision and the President's travel ban.

Macomb County resident Eric Castiglia said he believes the U.S. Supreme Court “did the right thing” in upholding the travel ban. For him, the ban is not about targeting any one religion or nationality, he said, but about protecting the country from potentially dangerous people.

“We need to be able to vet them properly,” Castiglia said. “We need to be able to protect our country. I do believe that the Supreme Court held to the original intent of the constitution and not the intent of man.”

He added: “When it comes to protecting our country, it has to be well thought out so we don’t have undue consequences later … We have to go back and look at why we’re doing this and not who is doing this. We’re doing something to protect America. And I do support the president in doing this.”

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. Tresa Baldas and USA Today contributed.