The First 100 Days: Restoring the Rights of American Muslims and Advancing Justice for All Americans

(Washington, D.C.; 12/26/2020) – The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), the largest Muslim-American coalition of leading national, regional, and local community institutions, appreciate and welcome the incoming administration’s pledge to support American Muslims by ending the Muslim Ban on day one, including Muslims at every level of government, confronting racial and religious discrimination, and addressing issues important to our community and our neighbors.

In order to help the Biden Administration advance justice for all, we encourage the Administration to support and pursue the policy recommendations made by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – a member organization of USCMO – in its report, “Biden-Harris Administration – The First 100 Days – Restoring the Rights of American Muslims and Advancing Justice for all Americans.” Highlights of the report’s recommendations appear below. The full report can be accessed here.

I. INCLUSIVE REPRESENTATION OF AMERICAN MUSLIMS IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

1. Fulfill President-Elect Biden’s pledge to include American Muslims at every level of the administration, including the cabinet. Embrace, hire, work with, and consider policy advice from mainstream American Muslims and Muslim community organizations.
2. When assessing American Muslim job applicants, forbid any use or consideration of alt-right and Islamophobic smears as a resource, and ensure that Muslims appointed to positions do not face extra hurdles or roadblocks to attaining security clearances.

II. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

3. Work with Congress to adopt and pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and, in the meantime, use administrative action to adopt as many of the act’s provisions as possible. For example, create a centralized federal database that documents excessive use of force by law enforcement, and make federal funding to local law enforcement agencies contingent on their full use of the database.
4. Remove discriminatory loopholes in federal guidance regarding the use of racial and religious profiling by federal law enforcement agencies.
5. Combat both crime and racism in policing by working to reinvest portions of excessive federal funding for military and law enforcement activities into resources for underfunded and overpoliced communities of color.
6. Work with Congress to reevaluate and fundamentally reform the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to ensure incarcerees’ constitutional right to equal access to the courts.

III. DEFENDING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS, WORKPLACE, AND ELSEWHERE

7. Support the free speech of all Americans and the right to engage in boycotts without government interference.
8. Support federal and state departments of education efforts to adopt policy reforms that address religious-based bullying in schools.
9. End the U.S. Department of Education’s attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses, including attempts to target Middle Eastern studies courses and punish Palestinian student activists.
10. Establish alternative student loan funding opportunities for students who have a moral or religious objection to the use of interest-based loans.

IV. WORKING TO COMBAT COVID-19 & ADVANCING HEALTHCARE ACCESS

11. Ensure American Muslims and other minorities, like all other Americans, have equal access to the COVID-19 vaccine and federal and state aid available to those impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
12. Direct the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to provide funding to Muslim American health clinics on an equal basis to other clinics.
13. Provide greater capital access for faith-based communities, including American Muslims.
14. Publicly recognize the American Muslims who have played a critical role in developing COVID-19 vaccines and treating patients, and include Muslim medical professionals in COVID-19 relevant task forces and government positions.

V. ENDING NATIONAL SECURITY OVERREACH

15. Fundamentally reform the federal government’s unconstitutional Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), commonly referred to as the “terrorism watchlist.”
16. Dismantle the TSA’s secretive Quiet Skies passenger tracking program and other overbroad lists that single out law-abiding Muslim travelers for harassment and exclusion without due process.
17. Oppose and defund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) 2020 “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention” (“TVTP”) grant program, the successor of DHS’s previous Countering Violent Extremism (“CVE”) grant program.
18. End the FBI’s use of informants to spy on or entrap American Muslims, especially mentally ill and otherwise vulnerable individuals.
19. Reject any new domestic terrorism statutes that could be used to smear, punish, or silence American activists.
20. Close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and ensure those detainees already cleared for release are repatriated, and those that remain in custody are provided due process and a day in court.

VI. ENDING BIGOTED & DISCRIMINATORY IMMIGRATION POLICIES

21. Fulfill commitment to revoke the Muslim and Africa travel ban executive orders and related proclamations on day-one in office. Host an event, virtual or otherwise, between President-Elect Biden, Muslim community leaders, and American Muslims who were harmed by the Muslim Ban.
22. Work with Congress to adopt the NO BAN Act so no future administration can implement a Muslim Ban.
23. Repair the damage done by the Trump administration to the U.S. immigration system by reversing restrictions on the ability to travel and immigrate to the United States.
24. Work with Congress to repeal the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, re-evaluate all countries currently designated by the federal government under the VWP, and end all other discriminatory anti-Muslim “extreme vetting programs.”
25. Restore and enhance protections for asylum seekers and refugees, halt the detention of asylum seekers and other abusive practices, invest in refugee resettlement programs, and invest in humane alternatives to detention.

VII. SUPPORTING A PROGRESSIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE FOREIGN POLICY

26. Support the religious freedom of Muslims overseas in China, India, Burma, France, and other nations where Muslims have been targeted with varying levels of government discrimination.
27. Adopt the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s recommendation to sanction India as a violator of religious freedom for targeting Muslims.
28. Oppose the government of India’s illegal revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, stripping the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its protected status and laying siege to its eight million residents.
29. Work with international partners to end the wholesale slaughter and mass displacement of the Syrian people.
30. Hold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to account for the brutal murder of Washington Post contributor, U.S. resident, and human rights activist Jamal Khashoggi.
31. Withdraw any U.S. military advisers to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and discontinue the sale of arms to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other U.S. military support.
32. Withdraw any U.S. military advisers to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and discontinue the sale of arms to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
33. Take concrete actions to oppose the Israeli government’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, end the disastrous blockade of the Gaza Strip, and undo the harm President Trump caused to the Palestinian people.
34. Support peaceful democratic reform movements in the Arab and Muslim world, and end military aid to Egypt and other governments that suppress such movements.
35. Institute a moratorium on the use of drones to engage in targeted killings overseas, conduct a thorough and transparent public review of the program that fully accounts for civilian casualties, and establish strict new rules governing the use of drones and other deadly force overseas in order to protect life, uphold the Constitution, respect foreign sovereignty, and follow international law.