Atlantans react to court ruling on travel ban

Some disappointed, angry, while others say decision needed.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold President Donald Trump’s ban on trav- elers from some countries with large Muslim popula- tions hit close to home for some metro Atlantans.

“Disappointment is an understatement,” said Soumaya Khalifa, president of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta.

“This is not what brought people to this country from all over the world through- out the centuries. This is supposed to be the land of jus- tice, equality and religious freedom. We were hoping that the checks and balances of our government would uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

But others see it differently. Faith & Freedom Coalition Executive Director Tim Head said in a statement that the Supreme Court’s ruling protects the nation “by tempo- rarily hitting the pause button on immigration from countries that threaten our security.” Head also said the ruling underscores the president’s “constitutional responsibility to protect the homeland.”

For the Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the justices’ 5-4 rul- ing intensifies sentiment that the travel ban discriminates against Muslims.

“It’s a sad day in America and it’s the wrong message we are sending to the world,” Warnock said with a deep, heavy sigh. “The decision gives comfort to extremists who love to couch this as a war.”

Roughly 150 protesters shared Warnock’s sentiments as they gathered Tuesday evening outside the Richard B. Russell Building downtown. Organizers included Project South, Somali American Community Center, CAIR Georgia, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Southerners On New Ground, Jewish Voice for Peace-Atlanta Chapter, Georgia Alliance for Social Justice, ACLU of Georgia and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Azadeh Shahshahni, Project South’s legal and advocacy director, said the decision reinforces what she thinks President Trump wanted all along: a ban on Muslims.

“It was a reprehensible decision by the president, who has made it clear over and over and over again that he wanted to shut down entry of Muslims into this country. And now the Supreme Court has legitimatized that. Entire groups of people have now been stigmatized and treated as a threat,” Shahshahni said.

Burrell Ellis, political director of the ACLU of Georgia, said in an emailed statement: “Today’s Supreme Court decision ... stands against the very principles upon which this country was founded: religious liberty and freedom of expression.”