Trump’s controversial travel ban sparks both

On Sunday, Jan. 29, a masked man opened fire on worshipers at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec City. When the shooting stopped, six innocent people were dead and at least 17 others were wounded, some critically.

The next day, police arrested Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, and charged him with murder. Officials have yet to present evidence for the motivation behind the attack, but Canadian news outlets have reported Bissonnette’s social media posts show an allegiance to far-right and ultra-nationalist doctrines.

The attack in Quebec came a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted a welcome to all refugees regardless of religious practice. It came two days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order suspending the country’s refugee program for 120 days and prohibiting citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days. Critics of the order claim it is an unconstitutional ban against Muslims.

While many have characterized Trump’s executive order as more of a political move to appease his voter base than an attempt to deal with national security concerns, such governmental actions can and do have real world consequences, such as those we saw in Quebec. And now we are seeing them here along the Front Range of Colorado. It has been a busy week for police and members of Muslim, refugee and Jewish communities in our state. These minority populations saw an increasing number of threats last week, but the problem really began a few months ago. 

In the past six months, Islamic Centers, refugee service agencies and Jewish institutions around Colorado and the country have been threatened with violence on an increasingly regular basis.

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