Dean Johnson Comments for Media on Trump Immigration Plan
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the Voice of America, the Washington Times, and Britain's Sky News on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigration into the United States.
The proposal is "totally out of keeping with the American tradition, and I think it runs afoul of any sense of religious freedom that the nation has stood for," Dean Johnson said in an interview with the Washington Times. "It hearkens back to some of our darkest days in our immigration history."
Speaking with Voice of America, Dean Johnson said that Trump's "troubling proposal" was unconstitutional, yet his statements were already impacting Muslim Americans. "There's a palpable fear among the Muslim community in the United States about their treatment, and these kinds of statements - whether he's just trying to get attention or not - [have] a real impact on people," he said.
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.