Local Victims Speak Out For, Against Muslim Travel Ban
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Families personally impacted by local terrorist attacks and crimes by illegal immigrants are speaking up for and against President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslims.
An executive order signed Friday by the president suspended entry by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations, throwing airports across the country into chaos as travelers, even those with green cards, were detained and deported, and drawing thousands of protestors. A federal judge in New
York issued an emergency order temporarily stopping the deportations of people from the seven nations.
Jamiel Shaw Sr., whose teenage won was shot to death in 2008 by a gang member and illegal immigrant, had made his support clear for Trump during the presidential campaign. He praised Trump's action on immigration, and criticized the protesters that descended on airports like Los Angeles International Airport.
"I wish they would fight that hard for dead people," Shaw told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO. "When I saw that, I just said, 'man. If they would fight that hard for victims of crimes, we would get a lot of things done.'"
A new poll by Rasmussen Reports shows 57 percent of likely voters support President Trump banning refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. Thirty-three percent opposed the travel ban. Ten percent remain undecided.
But the victims and survivors of the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack decried the travel ban. Julie Paez, who was shot twice, said she felt the president's administration officials are citing San Bernardino as a way to "further something that I don't really feel reflects what was the truth in the attack here."
Renee Wetzel posted a photo of herself on Facebook with a sign that read, "My husband was murdered in the San Bernardino terrorist attack by radicalized Islamic terrorists. I do not support Trump's immigration freeze. #ChooseLove"
"As the widow of someone who was murdered by terrorists, I can understand that sometimes it is easy to give into your fears and to want to blame someone or something for what is happening," Wetzel wrote alongside the photo.
She called the president's decision to close the borders only to certain countries a "basic human rights issue."
"Banning entire groups of people whose only crime is where they were born is not the right answer. This is against everything our country stands for," Wetzel wrote.
