Gold Star Father Khizr Khan: Travel Ban 'Darkest Period In U.S. History'

SILVER SPRING, MD — A Gold Star immigrant father of a Muslim-American soldier whose son was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq — the same father who criticized President Donald Trump last summer for his then-proposed ban of Muslims with the words “you have sacrificed nothing” — says Trump's executive order instituting a travel ban has ushered in "the darkest period in U.S. history."

Khizr Khan, formerly of Silver Spring, Maryland, and now of Charlottesville, Virginia, and the father of Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, who was killed June 8, 2004, in combat in Baquabah, Iraq, campaigned in the fall for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Khan spoke about Trump’s “repeated attacks on Muslim Americans in this campaign and his record of disrespect toward American veterans and military families.”

With Trump's actions enacting the ban, and chaos at airports when passengers with visas were detained by customs officials, Khan told The New Yorker magazine that the move urged by Trump advisers who are ignorant and narrow-minded puts American troops at risk because the interpreters they work with overseas may no longer feel loyal to the U.S. If people who cooperate with U.S. forces no longer see a chance to emigrate to escape the factions they oppose, they may not work with troops and risk security, he says.

A U.S. travel ban for nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries that began Saturday sparked demonstrations at international airports across the country, including a protest at Baltimore Washington International. The executive order bars nationals from Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Iran, Yemen and Sudan from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Trump's order also bans the resettlement of refugees for four months and indefinitely suspends the entry of Syrian refugees.

"It alienates Muslims who are patriotic citizens," Khan told the magazine. "When a community at large feels alienated, bad elements start to rise. It’s the tragedy that has happened in Europe. It had failed to include immigrants from various parts of the world. Bad elements among them gained strength and began to think of harming societies."

»See the full New Yorker interview with Khizr Khan

The slain soldier's father and mother, Ghazala Khan, first denounced Trump last summer at the Democratic National Convention and told voters that their family wouldn’t be allowed in a United States under a Trump presidency — and their Muslim son wouldn’t have had the chance to fight for a country that believes in religious freedom.

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• Father Of Fallen Muslim-American Soldier Has Tearful Question for Trump
• Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier Tells Trump: 'You Have Sacrificed Nothing'

The couple again denounced Trump following the Oct. 9 presidential debate, when the New York businessman claimed that if he were president, Capt. Khan would still be alive, because he would not have sent troops into Iraq.

"Disgraceful comment. It is total no empathy, not only for Capt. Humayun Khan. He died for a purpose," Khizr Khan told NBC News. "For this candidate to say, 'Had I been the president, they would be alive,' is such a disgrace."

The Khans said in a statement that their fallen son is an American hero buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Born to Pakistani immigrants in the United Arab Emirates, Humayun Khan grew up in Silver Spring and graduated from the University of Virginia.

“We also know that Donald Trump is not telling the truth when he says he was against the Iraq war,” the Khans said previously. “Our son served this country with honor and distinction, and gave the ultimate sacrifice. The only thing that Donald Trump sacrifices is the truth."

As patriotic Muslims with undivided loyalty to the U.S., Khan said his family came to the country empty-handed but ready to work hard and contribute to its blessings. He and his wife wanted to raise their three sons in a nation where they were “free to be themselves.”

Khizr Khan spoke for himself and his wife at the DNC in Philadelphia; Ghazala Khan said later she was too emotional about their son to speak in front of a nationwide audience. Trump surmised that she wasn’t allowed to speak because of their Muslim faith, which the Khans vehemently denied.

The couple had the convention on its feet in July when Khizr Khan asked Trump rhetorically from the stage: “Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law,'” Khan said as he pulled a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution from his suit jacket.

He urged Trump to visit Arlington Cemetery, where veterans of every faith, gender and ethnicity are buried.

“You have sacrificed nothing and no one,” Khan said to the GOP presidential nominee.

»Screenshots of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, from DNC video footage; screenshots of Khizr Khan and Capt. Humayun Khan, from Hillary Clinton campaign YouTube video