Houston Newsmakers for July 1: Muslim-majority countries banned from entering U.S., what's next?

Muslim-majority countries banned from entering U.S., what's next?

HOUSTON – The Supreme Court ruled the president of the United States has the authority to ban entry into the country for people from several Muslim-majority countries. Muslims in Houston are concerned about the message that's sending about American Muslims.

Arsalan Safiullah is staff attorney for CAIR, the Council on American and Islamic Relations, and is a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall. “It’s a lot to do with what (President Donald Trump) said. It changes how we’re viewed in America,” Safiullah said. “I’m not just talking about people from overseas that we’re concerned about... I’m talking about children here who are raised here, that it changes the perception of us as a community.”  

Safiullah talks about why they view the issue as not being decided and what they can do as a community on Sunday's Houston Newsmakers.

Immigration court backlog stretches for years

The logjam at the southern border of the United States as immigrants and asylum seekers try to get in is nothing compared to the backup currently in the U.S. immigration courts. KPRC2 Investigates reporter Robert Arnold is working on a report for next week that is eye opening. He observed one case last week.

“They’re asking for a hearing on their request for asylum. The judge reset that hearing until 2021,” he said. “So if you look at it, they came here in 2016, by the time they get to that hearing they would have already been in the United States for five years.”  This is just one example and there will be a comprehensive report July 6 with more background on this week’s Houston Newsmakers.

Former Texan and wife start foster care center

Chester Pitts was one of the original Houston Texans drafted by the NFL draft in 2002. He retired in 2011 after one season with the Seattle Seahawks and has spent his post NFL career investing in business and contributing to numerous charities in the Houston area. Now, he and his wife are doing much more. His organization, Carson Parke, is a residential treatment center for foster children.

“To be able to dive in and find the cause, be involved in something that is truly important to us and (have) it be very impactful (sic), that’s probably the biggest thing, greatest thing about it," said LaToya Pitts. She will be the executive director of the center, opening this week, and says the children who will live there will be unique in their needs.

“Children who come with us and a lot of them who will come to us have been at other placements that just didn’t work out for them for whatever the reasons may be,” she said. “Our end goal is to either have them reunited with their family or adopted out.”

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