Can We Extend Our Outrage for Abused Airline Passengers to Muslims Wrongly Detained at the Airport?

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest federal court to rule earlier this month against President Donald Trump's travel ban, declaring that "national security is not a 'talismanic incantation' that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power." While the misguided travel ban is temporarily on hold as it makes its way through the courts, the chilling effects behind the executive order linger across the country. Many people (valid visa holders and U.S. citizens alike), particularly those who are Muslim, fear that they no longer are welcome here, that they will be discriminated against and won't be able to travel freely.Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport detained and questioned my Army buddy, Morales, upon his return from a vacation with his wife and young son. Morales, which is the alias he had used to protect family still living in Iraq, is Muslim and came here from Iraq after the Gulf War. He gained his citizenship when he was a teenager and later served overseas as a U.S. soldier during The Surge.   Continue reading...