Photo Credit: US Uncut

The Islamic Center of Victoria, which supports roughly 100 local Muslims in the community roughly 125 miles from Houston, was completely gutted by the fire, and its leader watched helplessly as their mosque was destroyed.

“It’s a house of worship,” said Islamic Center of Victoria president Shahid Hashmi, in an interview with the Victoria Advocate while standing across the street from the conflagration. “They said it … is a restricted area for now for the investigation, so, we just prayed right here on this sidewalk.”

The was set at approximately 2 AM local time, according to local media. Tom Legler, the local fire marshal, said the cause of the fire is currently unknown, but is asking for the community’s help in determining how the fire started, and who, if arson is suspected, instigated the fire.

The timing of the fire is peculiar, given that President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting all refugee resettlement for 120 days on Friday, and indefinitely banning immigration from predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, with more countries to potentially be added to the list in the future.

If the fire is indeed arson, it wouldn’t be the first time the mosque was targeted by vandals. The center was burglarized just last week, and in 2013, a man admitted to spray-painting “H8,” which is shorthand for “hate,” on the front door of the mosque.

A GoFundMe page has been launched by community member Omar Rashid for the rebuilding of the mosque. Currently, approximately $17,000 has been raised from nearly 300 people in just a matter of hours. The Islamic Center of Victoria is seeking $450,000 to rebuild.
 
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com, or follow him on Facebook. 

Courtesy: US Uncut

Also read:
Pope Francis Just Warned The WORLD Not To Allow Trump To Become The Next Hitler
Trump banned refugees on Holocaust Remembrance Day. That says everything
Anne Frank and her family were also denied entry as refugees to the U.S.
The Forgotten Stories of Muslims Who Saved Jewish People During the Holocaust
Madeleine Albright Says She's 'Ready to Register as Muslim' to Protest President Trump
Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Cowardly and Dangerous (NYTimes editorial)

The post Hours after Trump’s Muslim ban, Texas mosque burned to the ground appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A federal judge in Brooklyn issued an emergency stay Saturday night against President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigration from certain predominantly Muslim countries, temporarily allowing people who have landed in the United States with a valid visa to remain.

The ruling—a stunning defeat for Trump at the end of his first week in office—protects from deportation refugees or visa holders who were detained at American airports since the signing of so-called "Muslim ban." It also protects those in transit when the emergency ruling was filed.

The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two men detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The men were subsequently released. Cody Wofsy, a lawyer with the ACLU, told Mother Jones he'd worked though the night with a large group of attorneys on Friday to write the brief that challenged the executive order.

The director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project announced the victory on Twitter:

The stay, granted by Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the US District Court, is temporary, and a court will have to decide whether to make it permanent at a later date. But for now, people will not be deported because of Trump's executive order.

One Syrian women was reportedly about to be sent back to her home country when the ruling came down—and was promptly taken off the flight by Customs and Border Protection agents.

Wofsy, the ACLU lawyer, said he planned to stay at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday night to make sure those who are detained there are not removed in violation of the judge's order. 

"This executive order runs contrary to really our most fundamental constitutional rights and human values in this country," Wofsy said. "These individuals, many of whom have green cards and have lived here for many years, can't just be put on a plane and shipped off."

You can read the judge's full order here:
 

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And the ACLU's original complaint below:

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Courtesy: Mother Jones

The post A Federal Judge Just Issued a Stay Against Donald Trump’s “Muslim Ban” appeared first on SabrangIndia.