The Islamophobia that pervades government structures and the minds of Americans today rises from a bleak history, judicial memory, and a naturalization ban that stood for 154 years—a ban that was enforced by the courts long before Trump proposed another while campaigning for the presidency and rode the tide of Islamophobia all the way to the White House.

QUESTION: What was the specific statutory or judicial basis of this 154-year naturalization ban? Worth tracing the legal history for context. Builds on: "U.S. law barred Muslim naturalization from 1790 to 1944."

Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Unde…, loc. 200