Wandsworth Labour intends to call on the council to condemn the US immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

President Donald Trump has put a controversial 90-day temporary ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

The group will put forward a motion to Wandsworth Council at a council meeting this evening to write a joint letter of protest alongside the leader of Wandsworth Labour Simon Hogg, setting out its opposition to the ban.

The Labour group states in the motion: "This policy targets people of the Muslim faith and is an act of discrimination."

Along with banning people from those seven countries, regardless of whether they have a visa or green card, the President ordered the suspension of the entire US refugee admissions system for 120 days.

The US accepted 12,486 Syrian refugees in 2016, compared with approximately 300,000 taken in by Germany, a country smaller than California.

Trump has been accused of targeting war-torn countries in the ban and not including countries in which he has a vested business interest.

He defended his order, saying that it was not a ban on Muslims but about "terror and keeping our country safe".


However, some are wondering why Saudi Arabia or Egypt are not on the list.

Most of the hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia and the leader of the attack was from Egypt.

Speaking to the motion, newly-elected councillor for Queenstown, Aydin Dikerdem, said: "Acts of discrimination like this have a global impact, including on our borough and we have an obligation to stand up and say we do not tolerate this kind of discrimination in Wandsworth."

There are approximately 4,320 Wandsworth residents who directly originate from one of the seven countries targeted by Trump.

According to the 2011 census, there are 900 from Iran, 2,415 from Somalia, 500 from Iraq, up to 175 from Sudan, up to 100 from Yemen, 130 from Libya and 100 from Syria.

Mr Dikerdem added: "Think what it must be like to be a Somali, Iranian or Yemeni child at school, and the message it sends when the bully who is targeting you is the President of the United States of America. 

"This ban has no real purpose other than to divide people through fear, and to exploit and normalise Islamophobia and we have an obligation to stand up and say 'not in our name'".