President Trump's new executive order on immigration, issued Monday, makes several significant changes to his earlier order that was blocked by a federal court six weeks ago. In addition to dropping Iraq from countries affected by the ban, the new order notably calls for a public database of honor killings — an addition that bears the fingerprints of Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
Nevertheless, Sessions has expressed concern about honor killings in the past, such as in a 2016 discussion with a State Department official:
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Sessions: … With regard to honor killings, you have evidence that 27 people were killed in the United States for honor killings according to a DOJ report.Simon Henshaw, State Department official in charge of the refugee program: I have no evidence that there were any honor killings among the refugee population resettled in the U.S., sir.Sessions: Well, it's from the same cultural background I would say. [The Atlantic]
As a result, some Muslim rights advocates have slammed President Trump for appointing Sessions to his Cabinet. "[Former] Senator Sessions is one of the most, if not the most, anti-immigrant senator in the U.S. Senate," Farhana Khera, director of the civil-rights group Muslim Advocates, told The Atlantic. "He has a long record of demonizing non-white immigrants, especially Muslim and Latino immigrants."
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