The United States of America have deported 72 Africans over immigration issues. The deportees comprise of 5 Somalis and 67 Kenyans. The deportees arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport earlier today.
It is understood that the deportations are part of US President Donald Trump’s policy to rid America of illegal immigrants although it seems the focus is mainly on nationals from Muslim-dominated countries.
The US administration however fiercely denied it deliberately single out Muslims in its anti-immigration drive during an appeals court hearing Monday.
The hearing came as Trump seeks to bounce back from a series of stinging judicial defeats over his controversial travel ban from half a dozen mainly Muslim countries.
The question of intention is key since the US Constitution forbids religious discrimination. Trump’s detractors say it is beyond doubt that Muslims were the ban’s intended target, but the administration says it is motivated strictly by national security concerns, an area where US presidents have wide powers.
Trump “never intended for that to discriminate on the basis of any particular religion,” Jeffrey Wall, the US acting solicitor general, told judges of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond during an intensely argued afternoon hearing.
“He made clear he was not talking about Muslims all over the world,” said Wall. “That’s why it’s not a Muslim ban.”
But a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Omar Jadwat, whose side is supported by several Democratic-led states, argued that Trump the candidate made clear he wanted to ban all Muslims for a time while studying enhanced immigration vetting.
