OCA Denounces ‘Muslim Registry’ and Appeal to Japanese Incarceration During WWII

WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates denounced the plan to institute a “Muslim registry” and the appeal to the unconstitutional Japanese American incarceration during WWII as a possible grounds for justification of the registry.

This Wednesday on Fox News, Carl Higbie spoke out in favor of a “Muslim registry” that would maintain a list of Muslim immigrants in order to track their activities for the purported reason of stopping terrorism. This idea was originallyproposed by Kris Kobach, an anti-immigrant lawmaker who claims to be advising President-Elect Trump on his transition team. Higbie, a spokesman for the Make America Great Again PAC and a campaign surrogate for Trump, told host Megyn Kelly in discussing the legality of such a program, “I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it will pass. We’ve done it with Iran back a while ago. We did it during World War II with Japanese. Call it what you will, maybe wrong.”

“The idea of a Muslim registry is inherently discriminatory and antithetical to American values of equality and fair treatment under the law,” said Leslie Moe-Kaiser, OCA National President. “This program would not only single out innocent people based on their religion for wrongful prosecution and deportation, but also would be ineffective in stopping terrorism. Carl Higbie’s invocation of one of the most shameful episodes of Asian American history as ‘precedent’ for this registry is a prime example of why we, as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, must be ever vigilant in preventing a repeat betrayal of the Constitution. Any effort to rewrite history that revives the grossly misguided ‘necessity’ of the internment camps is an insult to the memory of the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent wrongfully incarcerated during WWII. If President-Elect Trump really will be a President for all Americans, then he must disavow Carl Higbie and Kris Kobach. He must also immediately condemn the idea of any kind of registry that singles out residents based on their ethnicity, religion, national origin, or other identity.”