Here’s what Muslim students think about Trump wanting to ban them from coming to America

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Muslims have become the latest minority group to be targeted by Donald Trump’s bizarre election campaign.

Today Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown” of Muslim immigration into America, claiming we are at risk of “horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad”.

He added Muslim hatred for our country is “beyond comprehension” as he demanded a halt to immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

We asked Muslim students to respond to Trump’s baffling statement tonight – and this is what they had to say.

Rawda Fawaz, UVA freshman majoring in Foreign Affairs and Philosophy

When my friends laugh at Donald Trump’s ridiculous comments and ignorance, I fake smiles and think about my future.

Donald Trump the joke…Donald Trump leading in the polls…Donald Trump proclaiming Muslims should carry religious identification, stating we must be barred from entering the U.S. It’s hard to comprehend my reality right now: after learning about civil rights, anti-fascism, and the like, I imagined that we would know when to shut down those who incite violent hatred.

Trump and his supporters are a threat to our lives: in the past month alone, I’ve been yelled at, glared at, and grabbed as I walked down the street. I, and others like me, are not safe: Trump has usurped freedom of speech and turned it into freedom of hate, hate that is now openly and cruelly directed at those who look like the perceived “enemy”.

Emad Miqbel, 21, Rutgers senior majoring in Biological Sciences

As a Muslim American hearing Trump’s rhetoric towards Muslims, it’s nothing more than a celebrity fetching for more headlines and appealing to the ignorant demographic that share his opinion.

And I use the word ignorant firmly because anyone who shares his opinion lacks a fundamental understanding of Islam or has yet to come in contact with a Muslim besides the ones portrayed by the media.

Samer Tawil, 29, UT Austin senior majoring in Communications/Human Relations

I think that if your intention is to support Isis’s ideology and motives, then alienating the 1.4 billion Muslim population is a fantastic way to usher them into the arms of the Islamic State.

Ayah Houshieh, 21, Rutgers senior double majoring in English and Journalism/Media Studies

I won’t call him a politician because that is not what he is. Why? Well, for starters he clearly lacks a basic understanding of the constitution.

This businessman who has appealed to the masses of people with similar mindsets has done so because he is playing on their fears. People would much rather avoid the problem than face it head on, which is what Donald Trump does.

He thinks by proposing a giant wall, which he repeatedly mentions to “ask Israel how it’s working” failing to note that the wall in Israel is an apartheid wall, that he has come up with a flawless plan to keep immigrants out. He has said at rallies that if he were to be elected he would send every Syrian immigrant back. It is incredible to think that potentially the leader of the most powerful nation in the world would send back an orphaned five-year-old or whomever for seeking a better life.

I am a proud Arab-Muslim-American and I think all of these propositions are BLATANT violations of our constitution.

And on the real, I don’t have time to check into a “Muslim database” every time I want to leave my apartment so Mr Trump can feel safe. If anything, I am the one who is being put in danger with an idea as toxic as this one.

Oh and another thing, if he wants me to wear another ID besides my student one, or intern one, or even my Emergency Medical Technician one, he’s out of luck. I’m running out of neck space.

Does he really think that he isn’t the cause of the influx of hatred in this country?

Faisal Sulman, 19, UNC sophomore majoring in Biology and Political Science

Hmmm.. a “total and complete” shutdown of Muslim immigration… which I assume is a response to the recent shootings in San Bernardino? Or maybe in response to the shootings in Paris a weeks back? Attacks in which members of the Islamic State of Syria have claimed responsibility for, manipulating their pawns to do their bidding for their every whim.

Just because a group of radicalized individuals who have the audacity to call themselves Muslim and followers of Islam, yet they go around the world killing all these innocent people who were just living a normal life, does not mean the rest of the Muslim population throughout the world are like them.

For a person able do such an evil act such as these can’t say that they belong to any religion – religion doesn’t teach one to kill. Terrorism has no religion. Oklahoma City Bombings during the 90’s. Wisconsin Sikh Temple Massacre in 2012. IRS suicide bombing in 2010. All examples of domestic terrorism that were done by people who were “followers” of Christianity.

By Trump’s logic, should we also ban Christian people, that were of US origin coming back from a trip overseas? Yes, the connotations of Islam has been spiraling into abyss since the 80s with the start of Al Qaeda and the attacks of September 11th – but to blame them all of Muslims is completely unwarranted. Over six million Muslims have died in the last 25 years as a result of the war.

The people of America and the world are not the only ones suffering. All of humanity is. We all live on one planet, it’s important we learn to accept and tolerate others of different beliefs. Why make “enemies” when you can make friends and solve a greater problem together?

As a fellow Muslim, it really pains me when something, a terrorist attack, happens. Because I know there’s always gonna be another Muslim, regardless of their age or gender that will be given a look of doubt and discomfort due to the act of others.

Sabah Saudade, 21, Hunter senior majoring in Media Studies

If you give a child throwing a tantrum your undivided attention, that child is always going to throw tantrums to get your attention. They will get wilder and more uncontrollable every time, just to up the ante.

Trump is a real life Reddit troll who was able to muster up a political platform with his massive piles of money and the increasingly xenophobic attitude in parts of this country. In general, I do not believe in giving grown man-babies my attention or trying to derive meaning from their words.

To me, his statement about deporting Muslims translates to “I am a racist, fascist, living joke of a person.”

I was living on what might have been the whitest street in Forest Hills when 9/11 happened. There were a couple of boys in school who bullied me to the point of tears every day by saying that my family caused it. I was seven. I can’t imagine having to express to a group of second graders, having been one myself, that I wasn’t a terrorist.

But that was the point it reached, and I still carry that around with me. I was made aware of my otherness at an early age, and I can’t stand to think that, at this rate, this will continue to happen to other kids because of the 0.3 percent of big bads who people allow to speak for the rest of us.

I feel there’s always going to be an “other” to Americans—whether it’s Black Americans, the Japanese, Soviet Russians…as long as this culture of intolerance is allowed to continue, grow, and fester at the rate that it is.

Ahmed Sherif, NYU sophomore majoring in Physics

Though I can’t claim to know much about the inner workings of Trump’s political ideologies, it does seem quite counter-intuitive that he should respond to an issue that is often caused by a feeling of alienation by deciding to resort to further alienation.

Publicly demonizing the entirety of America’s Muslim community will only serve to increase tensions and racism in America. That being said, his supporters don’t really seem to mind, which is worrying.