In a proactive measure to fight back against the administrative Muslim ban being implemented by the Trump administration, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the State Department today. As a part of this information request, NIAC is requesting that the State Department produce a variety of relevant documents which may confirm suspicions and data that the Trump administration is using “extreme vetting” to deny visa requests on unconstitutional grounds rather than bona fide national security concerns.
 
Data seems to show that President Donald Trump has found a backdoor to fulfilling his campaign promise of banning Muslims from entering the United States. He recently tweeted about his desire to abandon the “watered down” revised Muslim ban and return back to the original, more discriminatory and unconstitutional, Muslim ban. Trump then noted that despite the court orders, the administration is pursuing “extreme vetting.” NIAC fully intends on getting to the truth of how “extreme vetting” is being interpreted, implemented, and enforced. If the records obtained confirm that the Trump administration is imposing a de facto Muslim ban, NIAC will pursue all available legal remedies to protect the Iranian-American community and fight back against this, and any other, discriminatory and constitutionally offensive policy.

View a PDF of the FOIA request here.