Muslim group files lawsuit against Trump order

The nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s temporary travel ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) suit questions the constitutionality of the controversial executive order signed last Friday that affects immigration and refugees.

“Our First Amendment is under attack,” attorney Shereef Akeel, a co-counsel on the lawsuit, said in a statement Monday.

{mosads}“We, as attorneys, are foot soldiers of the American Constitution and took an oath to protect all from being targeted by the government because of their faith,” he added.

CAIR lists Trump, new Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the State Department and the director of national intelligence as defendants in its lawsuit, filed Monday in a Virginia federal court 

Among the more than 20 plaintiffs are Somali and Yemeni student visa holders, a Syrian national serving as an imam in Michigan and even the husband of a pregnant Sudanese national.

CAIR’s lawsuit refers to the “Muslim Exclusion Order” throughout its text.

The suit alleges the “apparent and true purpose and underlying motive” of Trump’s act is “to ban Muslims from certain-Muslim majority countries.”

Trump last Friday signed an executive order imposing a 90-day ban on entry to the U.S. for visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  

Trump also suspended all general refugee admissions for 120 days, adding an indefinite pause on Syrian refugees.

Democrats and human rights groups have since decried the order as unconstitutional, arguing it unfairly targets Muslims.

Trump on Sunday rejected those criticisms, however, saying his order is crucial to protect national security.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” he said in a statement. “This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”