According to a study at California State University San Bernardino’s Center for Study for Hate and Extremism, the anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US rose sharply in 2015 to the highest levels since the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks. The study also suggested that President Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric could have contributed to this backlash against American Muslims.

And recently we saw the President going as far as severely restricting the entry of nationals of seven majority Muslim countries, causing a rash of protests across the country with various Indian communities taking part in it.

The Sikh Center of Seattle is one such religious organization raising its voice against the so-called travel ban. Recently, the Center deputed Harjinder Singh Sandhawalia for a roundtable discussion of all faith leaders of the Seattle held in the Redmond city mosque. This meeting was hosted by the Muslim community of the area. It was in this meeting that Congresswoman Suzan DelBene said she had introduced a bill (HR 489) in the Congress to stop the order registering Muslims in the country. Sandhawalia was present in the discussion and called for protecting religious freedom of minority communities.

Members of other Sikh communities have also joined hands in the protest marches being organized across the country. Ravinder Singh, CEO of the Khalsa Aid Foundation who has been involved in humanitarian work at the Syria border, has also condemned the decision in his tweets. ‘Donald #Trump only BANNING MUSLIMS from countries where he has ZERO business interest! Well done USA’ reads one of his tweets.

With more American Indian communities joining the protests, the anti-Trump voices are now being amplified collectively across the country. A Punjabi community calling itself Punjabi Aunties took to streets holding placards written in Hindi and Punjabi. Swaroop Kaur, homemaker from Seattle, has been running a Vegan store for 22 years now. Swaroop finds this decision demeaning and hurting. “22 years in Seattle, will you Mr Trump, still call me an immigrant?” she questions.

On the other hand, Jamie Quinn consultant physiotherapist at Swasthya Kendra Clinic, vehemently opposes the decision on the Internet. She writes, “It’s not about who is banned and who isn’t. This is a **** move towards several refugees who are just trying to escape war and for several students and working people who want to earn money for a good life in the USA. Aaj unko ban Kiya toh kal hume bhi kar sakte Hai (today they have banned them, tomorrow it could be us).”

While on ground, protests gain momentum, social networking sites, FB pages being run by Indian communities staying in America are also garnering support from non-Indian communities: ‘Stop Donald Trump‘, ‘Stand Againist Trump’, ‘Trump O Bar’, ‘Hindi Hai Hum’ are some of the pages that have been rallying support against the President’s order.

Anita Vohra, a Google employee in San Francisco led a silent protest in her vicinity with other Google employees joining her.