Religious leaders gather in Mineola to condemn immigration ban

“We are all immigrants,” Rabbi Arthur Vernon from the Congregation Shaaray Shalom in West Hempstead said. “If not directly, we are all descendants of immigrants.”

Vernon, along with more than a dozen religious leaders from across Nassau County, gathered outside the State Supreme Court building in Mineola on Tuesday to condemn President Trump’s executive order on Jan. 27 that bans immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations to re-enter the U.S. for 90 days. It also suspends the nation’s refugee system for 120 days.

Local political leaders joined the call, standing alongside rabbis, reverends and spiritual leaders. Malik Nadeem Abid, the New York chapter president of American Muslim Voice and the secretary general of International Human Rights Commission, said the ban violates core American beliefs in equality, tolerance and justice.

“Our government has the responsibility to secure our borders and its citizens,” Abid said. “But it must do so while uploading our great American values…we should not turn our back to refugees based on their religious belief.”

Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said the ban goes against American values and assured the community that her office will provide resources to report hate crimes. “I’m the daughter of two immigrant families,” she said. “We welcome the beautiful diversity that makes up our communities.”

Steven Markowitz, chairman of the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove, said the order was ironically put in place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “History will not and cannot repeat itself,” Markowitz said. “We stand here together with the same belief that all humans have equal rights and the ban violates those rights.”

John Brooks (D-Seaford), Laura Curran (D-Baldwin) and Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) supported the religious leaders by taking the podium and condemning the president’s actions. Although Rep. Kathleen Rice did not attend the conference, a representative read a statement that condemns the ban. “I urge you to contact my office to solve any problems or issues the ban has caused,” Rice said through the statement.

The Rev. Dyanne Pina, executive director of the Long Island Council of Churches, said that she is still in shock that the ban, dubbed “Muslim ban,” is actually taking place. In a fervent speech, Pina said, “Strangers came to this country fleeing their homelands out of fear, seeking a safe haven in the United States. In every generation, immigrants have lived the American dream through their hard work, family times and contributions to our society. We need the gifts of our immigrants.”

Pina said that the “…temporary ban on immigrants is a temporary ban on humanity.”

The Rev. Emmanuel Asse, of the Gateway Christian Center in Valley Stream, said that as an immigrant himself, the ban hits close to home. “I pray, and I hope, that our country can unite together under God and overcome this crime against humanity,” he said. “We stand here together as brothers and sisters united as one.”

“This executive order will not make us safer,” Abid added. “Actually, countries around the world may be hesitant to share intelligence reports with the United States due to lack of confidence in actions of our government.”

To continue fighting for “basic, human rights,” Vernon said he will be one, among many, religious leaders to form the Children of Abraham Coalition. “For centuries America has housed Christians and Catholics and Jews but now, it is time to further expand the definition of religious America,” Vernon said.