Democrats condemn Republicans calling for Muslim ban on the heels of Australia shooting | Islamophobia
Democrats are condemning two Republican members of Congress who said the United States should remove Muslims from the country and expel its residents after the mass shooting in Australia.
Florida Republican Congressman Randy Fine said he not only wants Muslim legal immigrants to be deported, but also Muslims “to have their citizenship revoked wherever possible.”
“This needs to end. Diversity is not our strength. Diversity has become suicidal,” Fine wrote on X on Monday. “It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible. Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them out of America.”
Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Islam was a “cult”, Muslims were “here to conquer” and people should “stop worrying about bothering the pearl divers”.
“We MUST SEND THEM HOME NOW or we will become the United Caliphate of America,” he wrote on X on Sunday.
In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), a group that advocates for Muslim civil rights, described Tuberville as an “anti-Muslim bigot”; This is the first time the organization has made this appointment to a US senator.
Fine has made repeated Islamophobic social media posts in recent days, increasing the anti-Muslim comments that have been a feature of his time in office. On Monday, he listed examples of attacks carried out by Muslims, including a shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia believed to have been carried out by two men inspired by Islamist terrorists.
He also described the movement to liberate Palestine as “nothing more than a Muslim terrorist movement” and said that anyone involved in this movement should be charged and tried “to the fullest extent of the law.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic representative from New York, said Fine’s posts were “disgusting.”
“Our Muslim neighbors are not Republicans’ scapegoats for anti-Semitic attacks, and [Donald] Trump’s failed policies,” he wrote about X. “We must absolutely vociferously condemn Islamophobia and hold accountable those who perpetuate it.”
Fine retweeted Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism with the following words: “Bring it on. I will not sacrifice America on the altar of suicidal empathy. Islamophobia is a lie. Because the fear of Islam is rational.”
Democrats generally disagreed with Tuberville’s comments. Senator Patty Murray called them “despicable and disgusting” and a “disgrace.” Sen. Chris Murphy said they were “despicable and un-American” and “bigoted bigots.” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called them “an ugly and disgusting example of Islamophobia.”
Journalist and Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan called out House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has yet to respond to Fine’s comments, to remain silent.
“How is this man allowed to be in Congress?” Hasan wrote about
In addition to his repeated anti-Muslim comments, Tuberville celebrated the decision not to move an Islamic school: According to AL.com. Muslims in Alabama invited Tuberville to meet them and visit a local mosque, but he did not accept the offer.
“Rather than seizing the opportunity to engage directly with the Americans he so feared, he increasingly uttered unreasonable and hateful rhetoric about them, most recently defaming and endangering a K-12 private Muslim school in Alabama,” Cair wrote.
Tuberville responded: “Medal of Honor. I will NEVER stop fighting for AMERICANS and our Constitutional values.”
The Republicans’ Islamophobic comments come as Trump has gone after predominantly Muslim Somalis, including U.S. citizen Rep. Ilhan Omar, and said they should all be sent back home.
Trump imposed a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries in 2017, which immediately sparked protests. During his second term, he banned travel from some Muslim-majority countries, along with bans on other countries.
Fine has previously been described by Cair as an anti-Muslim bigot. quotes His comments called for the destruction of Gaza, called Omar a “Muslim terrorist” and mocked the dead Palestinian child and the starving people.
The comments come at a time when anti-Muslim comments are on the rise on the right. Brandon Gill, a representative from Texas, said in November that America “has been importing Islamic terrorism through its suicidal immigration system over the last several decades.”
“This was a policy choice. The truth is that not all cultures are morally equal. Islam is incompatible with our culture and system of government. Radical Islamists are trying to fundamentally destroy our way of life,” Gill said. “Why should we let them immigrate here? Islamic ideology has no place in the West, and it’s time our immigration system recognizes that.”
