Muslim community reacts to travel ban ruling

The Supreme Court's ruling allows President Donald Trump's plan, which bans those from six countries with mostly-Muslim populations from entering the United States.

There are legal challenges to this ruling, but right now the travel ban is expected to go into effect.

Muslims in Connecticut feel this is a divisive ruling at a time when we should be bringing people together.

"We opened our doors even wider for the people to come in and see who we are," said Imam Salman Tariq, of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Salman Tariq is fairly new to Connecticut. He's the new Imam for the Ahmadiyya Muslim mosque in Meriden, but he's familiar with what happened two years ago.

A man living nearby took his anger out on Muslims by shooting at the mosque. Instead of seeking retribution, members sought reconciliation and they made a friend, not an enemy.

Unity is very important to the Muslim congregation of some 300 members, and Imam Salman Tariq said he's deeply disturbed by the travel ban.

Seven of the nine Supreme Court justices have ruled the president's ban can take effect. The countries affected are Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, all countries with mostly Muslim populations. They are banned from entering the United States.

Other courts had partially blocked previous versions of the ban saying they amounted to unconstitutional religious discrimination against Muslim.

"There should not be a Muslim ban, or we should not focus on one nationality or ethnicity, otherwise naturally it will create a disturbance and we would like to see a peace in the society," Imam Salman Tariq said.

He said he feels we should not be singling out any group and that people come to the United States to seek peace and unity.

Two appeals courts plan to hold arguments this week on the ban's legality.