Activists poke Trump to move faster on Muslim crackdown

They are already frustrated the president has prioritized other executive actions during his first week.




Less than a week since President Donald Trump took office, activists are hectoring him to immediately restrict immigration from Muslim countries. |


Conservative and far-right activists devoted to battling “radical Islam” may feel empowered now that Donald Trump is president, but they are already impatient he hasn’t yet delivered on their controversial agenda.

Less than a week since Trump took office, such activists and like-minded affiliates are hectoring him to immediately restrict immigration from Muslim countries. They are calling for an end to the resettlement of Syrian refugees. They’re insisting he designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.

And they don't understand why it's taking him so long.

“He said he would do it on day one. No sign of anything happening today, on day 4, and it sure looks like his White House doesn’t even have refugees on its radar,” activist Ann Corcoran wrote Monday about Trump's proposed Syrian refugee ban on the website Refugee Resettlement Watch.

Since taking office Friday, Trump has issued several executive actions, including ones that pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and institute a hiring freeze on much of the federal workforce. A source familiar with the matter said late Tuesday that Trump plans to issue several executive actions on immigration on Wednesday, including one related to sanctuary cities. It was not clear if any of the actions would deal with Trump’s pledges to crack down on Muslim immigration, and even if they do, it remains to be seen if the details will satisfy the anti-Islamist crowd.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, when pushed Tuesday on the question about Muslims and immigration, suggested Trump may hold off on any moves until his nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is confirmed and weighs in. However, liberal and American Muslim networks are preparing for worst-case scenarios, including all-out prohibitions on entry from visitors based on nationality, a full ban on Syrian refugees, and a possible halt to the resettlement of all refugees.