News and Analysis (2/14/17)

The surge “reflects not an influx of new refugees, but a backlog of those who had undergone an 18-month to two-year vetting process prior to the Jan. 27 executive order and had already been” approved:

• Who Are the Refugees and Immigrants Entering the US Since the Travel Ban Was Lifted?  (Christian Science Monitor)

Judge “Robart said he saw no reason to slow down the case, adding he was ‘surprised; the Justice Department would seek a delay given Trump’s angry tweets over the 9th Circuit ruling” …

• Seattle Judge Set to Move Forward on Trump Immigration Case (Reuters)

… and “Judge Brinkema said Trump’s promises during the campaign to implement what came to be known as a ‘Muslim ban’ provide evidence the … executive order unconstitutionally targets Muslims”:

• US Judge Grants Injunction to STOP Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim-Ban’ Affecting Virginia (Express)

Surprised that the man targeted for cartoons of Prophet Muhammad disagreed with his violent tactical view, Bannon warned that Trump is “only a premonition of what will ultimately come. ‘Just wait and see’”:

• I Told Steve Bannon: ‘We Are Not At War With Islam.’ He Disagreed (Huffington Post)

The Bayan Claremont school joins Unity Productions, Dearborn’s Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities, and Minneapolis’s Ka Joong in rejecting Homeland Security CVE grants:

• Fourth Muslim Group Rejects Federal Grant to Fight Extremism (U.S. News)

Some may opine that the group is “bad, authoritarian, or illiberal” but “not a single American expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who supports designation” of the group as “terrorist”:

• The Muslim Brotherhood and the Question of Terrorism (Atlantic)

The issue was not about Muslims initially (the majority of affected residents are Italian) but the extremist Swiss People’s Party made an issue of the potential  “loss of Swiss values” from Muslim citizens”:

• Swiss Referendum on Citizenship After Anti-Muslim Row: Vote decides whether to make it easier for third-generation immigrants to become citizens amid anti-Islam campaign (Al-Jazeera)

In Atlanta and New Zealand horrific bigotry is followed by loving support:

• Rally Held for Muslim-American Woman Questioned About Green Card (WSB-TV)
• Kiwi Muslim Woman Overwhelmed with Support After Abuse on Waikato Roadside (Stuff)

“France emphasizes equality rather than liberty. This, [Imam Oubrou] says, is the opposite of Britain and the U.S.”:

• In France, Some Muslims Seek To ‘Adapt’ Islam To Secular Culture (NPR)

“[O]f roughly 13 full-time Muslim chaplains … at colleges in the U.S. and Canada[, m]any … are paid by outside nonprofits and mosques … and none hold their campus’ top spiritual leadership position”:

• First Muslim Is Elected President of the College Chaplains Association (Huffington Post)

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