{"id":281696,"date":"2017-01-31T22:33:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T05:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=281696"},"modified":"2017-02-01T20:21:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T03:21:15","slug":"las-crucens-rally-at-islamic-center-against-trumps-travel-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/01\/las-crucens-rally-at-islamic-center-against-trumps-travel-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Crucens rally at Islamic Center against Trump\u2019s travel ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t
Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

An estimated 300 people gathered at the Islamic Center of Las Cruces on Tuesday to rally in support of the community's Muslims.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

An estimated 300 people gathered at the Islamic Center of Las Cruces on Tuesday to rally in support of the community's Muslims.<\/p><\/div>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

An estimated 300 people gathered at the Islamic Center of Las Cruces on Tuesday to rally in support of the community's Muslims.<\/p><\/div>

Billy Huntsman \/ NMPolitics.net<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

An estimated 300 people gathered at the Islamic Center of Las Cruces on Tuesday to rally in support of the community's Muslims.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

With only about 24 hours\u2019 notice via Facebook, an estimated 300 people showed up Tuesday evening at the Islamic Center of Las Cruces to protest the policies and actions of President Donald Trump and his administration.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue on hand at the event was Trump\u2019s recent executive order<\/a> barring citizens from\u00a0Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan\u00a0from entering the country for 90 days and suspending the admission of all refugees for 120 days. The order indefinitely bans entry of those fleeing from war-torn Syria.<\/p>\n

People who live in Las Cruces are affected. New Mexico State University says 65 students and seven employees<\/a> are citizens of the nations listed in the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryday we\u2019ve got a new story,\u201d said Radwan Jallad, president of the Islamic Center, at the rally. \u201cAnd the last story (the travel bans) hit us, Muslim communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jallad said such rallies are important demonstrations of support for the Muslim minority by the community majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we stand together, the more the (Muslim) community\u2019s not going to feel like we\u2019re not with them,\u201d Jallad said.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s administration says the ban isn\u2019t targeting Muslims, but Jallad believes otherwise. At the rally, which was held shortly after the sun set, Jallad was joined by Rabbi Larry Karol of Temple Beth-El and others in expressing outrage.<\/p>\n

Karol said Trump\u2019s ban is reminiscent of America\u2019s isolationist practices during the early 20th Century. By about 1924, the government put limits on how many immigrants \u2014 then mostly Jews, Germans, Brits and Irishmen \u2014 could come into the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen this movie before,\u201d Karol said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like it then and I don\u2019t like it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allex Luna, an organizer with N.M. Comunidades en Acci\u00f3n y de F\u00e9 (CAF\u00e9), said the rally was a visual representation of love.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fight didn\u2019t start on Jan. 20,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been going on for a lot longer. And I think people are starting to wake up and say, \u2018It\u2019s time to fight.\u2019 And we are not going to leave anybody behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich read a portion of a speech Heinrich gave on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many New Mexicans, I was heartsick by what I see as an attempt to fundamentally change our American values,\u201d Heinrich said in the speech. \u201cWe are not a country that discriminates based on how you pray. We are not a nation that turns our back on the innocent victims of terrorism or the allies who risk their own lives so that American soldiers might live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Las Cruces Mayor Pro Tem Greg Smith, the only elected official at the rally, praised Las Cruces\u2019 diversity and willingness to band together. He also cited the importance of the First Amendment allowing for the practice or non-practice of any religion.<\/p>\n

A woman who helped organize the rally, Jan Thompson, said she\u2019s putting together a \u201csacred resistance and rapid response\u201d team of volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I.C.E. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shows up at somebody\u2019s house and they call us for assistance, we will show up,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the mosque calls us for assistance, we will show up. When busloads of people are being taken to the airport for deportation, we will disrupt their route.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional executive orders and actions related to immigration and other controversial topics may come. Jallad pledged the Muslim community in Las Cruces will support any other minority group \u2014 such as the LGBTQ community, the Mexican community and the Jewish community \u2014 that faces the discrimination Jallad believes Muslims are facing now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will stand with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An estimated 300 people showed up to protest the travel ban and other actions by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2959,"featured_media":281677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3307,145,116],"class_list":["post-281696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-donald-trump","tag-las-cruces","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}