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….Next came the Muslim ban. During the election, at first Drumpf had pledged to kick out all Muslims. Then he claimed only citizens or non-western visitors entering from “terrorist” nations would be barred. The ban defined terrorist nations as those countries with “multiple persons who had committed terrorist acts against the United States or American people, businesses, or facilities overseas.”
Now no one from Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, Chad, Mali, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the biggest worry for us, Indonesia, could enter the US any more. Those immigrants, tourists, or resident aliens were now “illegals” and had to leave the US immediately.
A grand total of two terrorist attacks had been committed by Indonesians killing Americans (and Australians.) Because of that, over 200 million Indonesians were banned from ever entering or living in the US. That meant my daughter in law Dewi Angriani was now an “illegal.” My grandkids Dwight Marshall and Adika were born in the US, but as Muslims that didn’t seem to count for much anymore. I feared the ban would somehow expand to hit them also.
My son John went a lawyer to see how to keep her in this country. But there was no law to contest. It was just an order issued from Drumpf, get them all out now. All we could do was hide her.
We got a fake driver’s license for her, claiming her name was Dana Butler. A fake passport that would fool Customs was difficult to find, expensive, and too risky to use. She would never be able to take a flight while the ban existed, and would never be able to visit her family back in Java.
Her English was quite good, since Indonesians learn English starting in the first grade. If asked, she would claim to be Italian on her mother’s side. She no longer wore her jilbab and quit going to mosque, instead praying at home. I was pretty damn angry that she could not practice her faith. This was not right, not in my America. I know how I would feel if I could not go to mass or pray the Rosary.
Some Muslim American informers did start to turn in people from the banned countries, hoping to gain favor themselves. Now Houston was too dangerous for her and the children. The family moved to San Antonio for safety, living with my mom and Francisco. Sometimes people try to speak to Dewi/Dana in Spanish.
There were other obvious problems with who the ban affected. About one in five Indonesians were Christians, Buddhists, or Hindus. Many Syrians were Christians, and nearly all Syrians, whether Christian or Muslim, were fleeing ISIS. But they were now banned, as were Iraqis. Most Nigerians were Christians, but were now barred. Technically, multiple terrorists had come from Germany, Ireland, France, Belgium, Russia, the Philippines, and Israel. But as western countries, all either mostly Christian or Jewish, and all but one were mostly whites, they were exempt.
The ban on India provoked a lot of anger both in the US and overseas. Most Indians are Hindus, and many Indians in the US are Sikhs. But India has the world’s largest Muslim population, and so was kept on the list.
India has its own fascist party, the BJP, and its president is a fascist, Narendra Modi. The nation has had a fascist movement since the 1920s, one openly modeled on Mussolini’s and Hitler’s. During World War II, tens of thousands of Indian fascists fought alongside Japanese ones against the British.
As a young man, Modi was part of the same fascist youth movement that assassinated Gandhi. As minister of the Indian state of Guajarat, state terrorism by those in Modi’s government killed over 1,000 local Muslims. Because of this the GW Bush administration denied Modi a diplomatic visa to come to the US on official business.
India also has long had a history of bias based on skin color. Many Indian-Americans have strong prejudices against Blacks and others. When Drumpf campaigned for president, Hindu bigots publicly prayed for his victory and called him “King” Drumpf, their outright “savior.”
So after Drumpf’s ban was announced, Modi quickly met with him in person. The two fascists got on well. Modi agreed to add religion to all Indian passports and provide lists of Hindu names to make sure they would not be mistakenly barred at US points of entry. (Sikhs had no such luck.) Modi in return would get US intelligence on Indians in the US, especially if they were sending money to other Indian parties besides his BJP.
If “Mexicans” could not be trusted as tourists or immigrants, neither could Muslims or those from “terrorist countries” be trusted as government workers. Drumpf issued the same bans on Muslims in government, and ordered investigations on all naturalized citizens from the listed “terrorist” nations.
Actually the number of Muslim judges on the bench was tiny. The number of Muslim FBI agents, US Marshalls, and CBP agents was almost as tiny in spite of years trying to recruit them, and handicapped agencies trying to investigate potential terrorism.
The biggest drop was in federal civilian employees in agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. Islam has a very strong education tradition, including among most but not all Muslims, for women. (Women doctors, scientists, and businesswomen are common in many Islamic nations.) The countries targeted had been experiencing a brain drain for decades to the west, with many of their best educated going to America for much higher pay. A scientist from developing countries might make anywhere from 10 to 30 times as much in the US as their home country.
Kicking Muslims out of the government was complicated because it’s illegal to ask someone’s religion when they apply for a job. The purge wound up sweeping out many Hindus and Sikhs who had to point to their attending temples to avoid getting fired. Many Egyptian, Lebanese, and Syrian Christians also had their jobs threatened. So that led to the next logical step, one already partly proposed by Drumpf during the campaign:
“We are today creating a registry of Muslims in America. It’s just a database, OK? No one needs to be afraid unless they have something to hide. It’s just to be used to track down and go after terrorists. I’m very proud of what I’m creating, and I don’t care about political correctness. We must defeat Muslim terrorism and have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America.
What’s the difference between a registry for Muslims and the registry for Jews under Nazi Germany? You tell me! You tell me! I suggest we have them all wear armbands. Put a Muslim crescent on their clothing so we know who to watch for. And if they’re not ashamed of their religion, they’ll do it on their own anyway.”
But it didn’t surprise law enforcement that the speech and the new registry had the opposite effect. Where American Muslims had provided plenty of the intelligence used to stop US based terror cells, those tips halted immediately. And almost no Muslims voluntarily put on armbands. Burqas (veiled faces), hijabs and jilbabs (female hair covering), and kufi and peci (male head covering) wearing dropped sharply. Some city and state governments started passing bans on not just distinct Muslim clothing, but any hair or face covering.
Dewi/Dana went into hiding more than ever. She threw away all her jilbabs, fearful that a raid on the house would expose her as a Muslim. I thought it was a shame. The Indonesian or Malay jilbab is very different from the hijab in the Mideast. It’s very colorful, with elaborate and feminine designs, often pinned on with lovely pins or broaches. Women with jilbabs can look quite fetching, and often combine it with fashionable clothing. Most Muslim women choose to wear it as a form of modest fashion rather than have it forced on them as you see with burqas in the Mideast.
But those new laws led to another interesting twist. Amish and Mennonite Christians immediately objected and filed suits, since their women keep their hair covered too. Their men cover their hair as well, but Amish and Mennonite hats weren’t very different from straw hats, so they weren’t subject to bans. Technically the laws should have banned bandannas, scarves, and do rags.
The announcement also brought another flood of hate crimes, attacks of Muslims on the street, vandalism of mosques and businesses, threats, and several bombings. Mexicans wearing bandannas and Blacks wearing do rags also got attacked on the streets
And it was not even a year into Drumpf’s first year in office…
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Al Carroll is Associate Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College and author of six books and numerous articles.
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