Honoring the Strength and Diversity of Muslim Communities

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Muslims are one of the most diverse communities in our country and have always been a vital part of the American story. This election is our moment to dream big, fight hard, and win — together! Sign up to join the fight.

This plan was originally released during Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign.

Muslims are one of the most diverse communities in our country and have always been a vital part of the American story. Some trace their ancestry back to the many millions of Black Muslims, like Omar ibn Said, who arrived enslaved to these shores — and fought to preserve their faith, dignity, and humanity against all odds. Others are first, or second or third generation immigrants from Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, and dozens more countries. Still others are people who have accepted the Muslim faith — whether they are Latino or Native or Black. The vastness of the Muslim community is truly a representation of the diversity of America. 

We’ve witnessed moments of immense strength and solidarity because of movements that have been powered by Black and Brown Muslims and Arab Americans.

From Black Muslims who left an imprint on the civil rights movement, to the more recent organizing by Minnesota youth and grassroots organizations across the country when their civil liberties were under attack, to the immediacy of protests against the Muslim Ban, Muslims have helped lead the way to build a society where everyone can thrive.

Now, it’s our turn to reshape our country, our economy, and our government. To confront the deep-seated anti-Muslim racism in our society and in our policies that pre-dates even Donald Trump. To fight for bold, structural solutions to the problems we face as a nation. And to tackle generations of racial injustice and discrimination in order to build a government that works for everyone. 

This starts with making visible communities that have been perpetually erased — because data equity is a civil rights issue. Advocates from Middle Eastern and North African communities fought hard to be counted through their own category for the first time on the 2020 Census. But Trump's Census Bureau rejected their proposal. As president, I will work closely with these communities to have a more inclusive Census and ensure it is fully-resourced for a complete and accurate count.

We must also shift our domestic and foreign policies to reflect the country and world we want to build together, one that values the diversity and input of Muslim community leaders, organizers, policy experts, and stakeholders every step of the way — including those who will be in my administration. Because I know that a Warren administration — like any administration that may step foot in the White House — will need to build and earn trust from Muslim communities. 

This is our moment to dream big, fight hard, and win — for the sake of our communities and for the sake of the world. This is how we’ll get it done. 

- Elizabeth Warren, Candidate for President 

ADDRESSING MATERNAL MORTALITY 

Roughly 700 women continue to die each year from pregnancy or delivery complications in the United States. And the data shows that Black women are three to four times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. This trend persists even after adjusting for income and education. 

With twenty percent of U.S. Muslims identifying as Black, our maternal mortality epidemic also affects the Muslim community. 

These are structural problems that require structural solutions, and as they have so often done in the past, Black women and activists are leading the way. Elizabeth supports these efforts and has also introduced another idea: holding health systems accountable for protecting Black moms. 

Paying for better care means both rewarding excellent health systems and identifying, investing in, and demanding more from struggling ones. By rewarding health systems that keep mothers healthier, pressing for broader adoption of best practices that we already know help Black and Brown moms, narrowing racial inequities, and holding both hospitals and care teams accountable for preventable failures, we can save women’s lives and demand change. 

Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan to address the maternal mortality epidemic.  

AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND MODERN-DAY REDLINING 

Every American deserves a safe, decent, and affordable place to live. Meanwhile, homeownership is out of reach for too many families. According to Pew, while 57% of U.S. adults report owning a home, only 37% of Muslims are homeowners.

There may be various factors contributing to this low number, including Muslim families being unwilling to take out loans that require them to pay interest, lack of access to banking and credit for immigrant families, and discriminatory lending practices that impact various segments of Muslim communities.  

Decades of outright discrimination by the federal government denied Black families the same kinds of homeownership support available to white families. Then government regulators ignored warning signs as predatory financial institutions targeted minority communities with subprime mortgages that sucked billions of dollars in wealth out of those communities. The black homeownership rate today is nearly the same as it was when housing discrimination was legal in 1960.

Elizabeth’s Housing Plan for America includes a historic down payment assistance program targeted at families in formerly redlined areas. Experts say Elizabeth’s plan is a “brilliant plan to close the racial wealth gap.”

Elizabeth’s plan will also lower rents, take a first step in closing the racial wealth gap, and make it easier for Americans to access affordable housing. This includes: 

  • Secure tenants’ rights nationwide and fight exploitation by corporate landlords;

  • Investing $500 billion over the next ten years to build, preserve, and restore millions of units that will be affordable to lower-income families; 

  • Reducing rent by 10%;

  • Creating 1.5 million new jobs in housing construction and rehabilitation; and

  • Promoting economic growth.

This plan is a big win for America’s families. Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan for safe and affordable housing.  

But that’s not all. Gentrification is displacing communities of color, rising rents are crushing millions of families, and landlords are exploiting their power over tenants. And the Trump administration’s racist housing agenda is putting tens of thousands of immigrant renter families and their children at risk of eviction from public housing. 

Elizabeth will expand on her affordable housing plan by protecting and empowering renters. She will:

  • Secure tenants’ rights nationwide and fight exploitation by corporate landlords;

  • Withdraw HUD’s racist “mixed status rule” and extend protections to end housing discrimination based on tenants’ immigration status and source of income; 

  • Tackle the growing cost of rent;

  • Invest in safe, healthy, and green public housing; and

  • Rein in payday lenders and other predatory lending practices. 

Click here to learn more about her plan to protect and empower renters.

BANKRUPTCY

Elizabeth spent most of her career studying why families go broke. Her research showed that nearly 90% of these families were declaring bankruptcy for one of three reasons: a job loss, a medical problem, or a family breakup. Bankruptcy doesn’t affect all people equally—it mirrors the systemic inequalities in our economy. The persistent wealth gap in America means that families of color have far less wealth than white families on average—and at the same time, families of color are far more likely to be abused by predatory lending practices. 

These predatory practices hit Muslim communities as well. For example, many Muslim immigrants were caught up in high loans and bankruptcy struggles by the medallion crisis in New York City. Much like the predatory lenders during the housing crisis, industry leaders pushed drivers into reckless loans for taxi medallions—and made millions of dollars by doing so before the market collapsed and the drivers were left holding the bag.

Elizabeth’s plan will repeal harmful provisions in the 2005 bankruptcy bill and overhaul consumer bankruptcy rules in this country to give Americans a better chance of getting back on their feet.  She will fight to:

  • Let more people protect their homes and cars in bankruptcy so they can start from a firm foundation when they start to pick up the pieces and rebuild their financial lives;

  • Make it easier for people being crushed by debt to obtain relief through bankruptcy;

  • Expand people’s rights to take care of themselves and their children while they are in the bankruptcy process;

  • End the absurd rules that make it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy;

  • Help address shameful racial and gender disparities that plague our bankruptcy system; and

  • Close loopholes that allow the wealthy and corporate creditors to abuse the bankruptcy system at the expense of everyone else. 

Click here to learn more about her plan to overhaul our bankruptcy system so it helps working families, not giant companies.

CHILD CARE

In 2017, half of Muslims in the United States lived in households with children. In the wealthiest country on the planet, access to affordable, high-quality child care and early education should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the rich.

Elizabeth’s Universal Child Care and Early Learning plan will guarantee high-quality child care and early education for every child in America from birth to school age. This means that high-quality child care and early education will be free for millions of American families, and affordable for everyone. 

Under Elizabeth’s plan:

  • 12 million kids will take advantage of these new high-quality options—nearly double the number that currently receive formal child care outside the home.

  • More than a million child-care workers, who are disproportionately women of color, will get higher wages and more money to spend because they are doing the educational work that teachers do and will be paid like comparable public school teachers.

  • More parents can work more hours if they choose to, producing stronger economic growth.

  • Quality early education will produce better health, educational, and employment outcomes well into adulthood. 

This plan gives every kid a fair shot. Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan for universal child care and early learning.   

CONFRONTING WHITE NATIONALISM

Reported hate crimes spiked after Trump’s election, and recently violent hate crimes reached a 16-year high. Donald Trump has openly stoked these fires. He has cozied up to white nationalists and made one racist remark after another. He has put in place racist policies, from the Muslim Ban to his ongoing effort to build a monument to hate along our southern border. 

We need to be clear that domestic right-wing terrorism is completely incompatible with American values. It is a threat to American safety and security. And in a Warren administration, we will use every tool we have to defeat it.

But we don’t need new laws to take on white nationalism. In fact, the truth is that our government has a long and shameful history of abusing existing authorities to target activists and communities of color engaged in peaceful protest and acts of civil disobedience, including infiltrating mosques and sting operations directed at Muslim Americans. Even programs for Countering Violent Extremism have too often harmed law-abiding members of minority communities. And with his aggressive prosecution of his political opponents, Donald Trump has made it clear that any new such laws would be open to abuse.

Instead, we should prioritize the prosecution and investigation of white nationalist violence. That starts with collecting better data by requiring state and local governments to report suspected incidences of bias-motivated crimes. We should provide training for law enforcement to recognize and investigate hate crimes and push states to pass inclusive hate crimes statutes that cover race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. And when states or local jurisdictions lack the resources, expertise, or will to take on prosecution, we’ll make those federal cases.

Elizabeth knows that homegrown white nationalist groups are increasingly influenced by and coordinate with their counterparts overseas. She’ll work with our partners and allies to investigate multinational efforts to instigate white supremacist violence. And she’ll address white nationalism in our military, immigration and law enforcement agencies by tightening background checks and tracking incidents of bias crimes—because there is no room for white nationalism in the ranks. 

Click here to read more on Elizabeth’s plan for confronting white nationalism.

White Nationalist Hate Crimes Harm Religious Communities

Wisconsin, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and California are navy on a white map. 

Oak Creek, Wisconsin: Mass shooting at Sikh Temple (2012)
Charleston, South Carolina: Mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (2015) 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Mass shooting at Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation (2018) 
Escondido, California: Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque set on fire following New Zealand shooting (2019)

These are just some examples of white nationalist incidents against places of worship in the past few years. Source: NBC, Washington Post View in full screen.

COMBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Climate change is the existential threat of our time—but it also presents an opportunity to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and the middle class on the way to powering our economy on 100% clean energy.

A comprehensive approach to addressing climate change would be a top priority in a Warren administration. To really bend the curve on climate, we’ll need sustained big, structural change across a range of industries and sectors—from green manufacturing to sustainable agriculture. That’s why Elizabeth has woven Green New Deal policies throughout her plans, and that’s why she’ll use all the levers of government to defeat the climate crisis. 

All told, independent economists have estimated that Elizabeth’s plans to address the climate crisis through a Green New Deal will inject over $10 trillion dollars into our economy and create over 10 million new jobs.

Elizabeth will also ensure that justice is at the center of our response to climate change. Decades of discrimination and environmental racism have compounded in communities that have been overlooked for too long. Around the world, developing countries––many of which are majority muslim––are particularly at risk of the most extreme impacts of climate change such a sea level rise and extreme heat. And here at home in places like Dearborn, Michigan––home to one of the largest Muslim population in the nation––industrial pollution has plagued the community for decades.

Elizabeth believes that the solution to our crisis of environmental injustice must be led by the communities who are most affected by industrial pollution, which is why the federal government must support and uplift their efforts—including by better identifying at-risk communities and prioritizing resources to support them and remediate historic injustices. A Warren administration will direct at least $1 trillion in climate investments into frontline communities, create millions of new good, middle-class union jobs to fight climate change, honor our commitments to fossil fuel workers, hold corporate polluters accountable, restore protections that safeguard our air and water, and elevate the voices of frontline and fenceline community leaders at the highest levels of our government.

While any community can be hit by a hurricane, flood, extreme weather, or fire, the impact of these kinds of disasters are particularly devastating for low-income communities, people with disabilities, and people of color. As president, Elizabeth will prioritize at-risk populations in disaster planning, response, and recovery—including undocumented immigrants and language-diverse communities. She will invest in building climate resilience and disaster preparedness and response in all communities. She’ll increase investments in pre-disaster mitigation in vulnerable communities, monitor post-disaster recovery, and address climate gentrification to ensure equitable recovery for all communities. 

Click here to read more about some of Elizabeth’s plans to combat the climate crisis and our crisis of environmental injustice. 

Environmental Racism Across the U.S.

Environmental racism exists across the U.S. For example, Detroit’s 48217 ZIP code, which is over 80% Black, is home to a massive oil refinery and is the most polluted ZIP code in the entire state. In Los Angeles County, Black and Latinx residents experience greater rates of asthma hospitalizations than white residents. And the Isle de Jeane Charles band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe became the country’s first climate refugees in part because logging and oil extraction activities eroded much of their island home.

Sources: Michigan Radio (for Detroit, MI data); California Department of Public Health (for Los Angeles County, CA data); Coral Davenport & Campbell Robertson, “Resettling the First American ‘Climate Refugees,’”

New York Times

(May 2, 2016) (for Isle de Jean Charles, LA data). View in full screen.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM 

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with over 2 million people in prison and jail. 

To make matters worse, the evidence is clear that there are structural race problems in our system—for the exact same crimes, Black Americans are more likely than whites to be arrested, charged, wrongfully convicted, and given harsher sentences. One in ten Black children has an incarcerated parent. 

We also know that people of color disproportionately experience trauma at the hands of law enforcement, sometimes with life-altering consequences. On average, three people are shot and killed by the police every day, a disproportionate number of them young and Black. Others are arrested and entered into a system that unduly penalizes even minor infractions. Muslim Americans have been targeted by surveillance and sting operations, and experience bias across our justice system. Prosecutors seek and receive longer sentences for Muslim perpetrators than for non-Muslim perpetrators accused of similar crimes.  And just in 2019, the Supreme Court allowed the execution of a Muslim inmate without fulfilling his request that an imam be present. This denial of basic human rights for Muslim inmates is immoral.

We can’t tackle this problem by nibbling around the edges. 

Real reform requires examining every step of this system: From what we choose to criminalize, to how law enforcement and prosecutors engage with communities and the accused, to how long we keep people behind bars, how we treat them when they’re there, and how we reintegrate them when they return.

If implemented, Elizabeth’s plan will:

  • End cash bail that keeps people in jail for being poor, 

  • Repeal the 1994 crime bill that exacerbated our mass incarceration crisis, 

  • Ensure that incarceration meets basic human rights standards, including accommodating religious practices, 

  • Get rid of private prisons so corporations can’t profit from people’s pain, 

  • Fundamentally change how police work is done in America, and provide solutions by prioritizing prevention over punishment, and she’ll redefine what it means to invest in public safety by prioritizing solutions that lift people up, rather than locking them up.

Click here to continue reading about Elizabeth’s plan on comprehensive criminal justice reform.

DISABILITY RIGHTS 

People with disabilities are still fighting for economic security, equal opportunity, and inclusion. People of color with disabilities face the “double burden” of racism and ableism. And under the Trump administration, Muslim immigrants with disabilities have faced have faced persistent Islamaphobia coupled with ableism.  

As President, Elizabeth will work in partnership with the disability community to combat ableism. And she will fight alongside them for justice across all aspects of life and to fulfill the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act: equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self sufficiency. 

Elizabeth will start by making clear that disability is a priority in her administration, creating a National Office of Disability Coordination to ensure that federal programs work together to support people with disabilities. 

Elizabeth will also fight for every kid in America to have access to a high-quality public education. She will fight to fully fund IDEA, tackle discriminatory practices like zero-tolerance discipline policies. She will also fight to make appropriate services available to English Language Learners and immigrant students with disabilities and to fully fund research on how to best incorporate culturally responsive practices in special education services. 

Elizabeth will establish new protections for immigrants with disabilities, roll back Trump’s Public Charge rule, and end his administration’s inhumane immigration agenda.

Elizabeth will also:

  • Fight for economic security for people with disabilities by rewriting the rules of the economy to end labor market discrimination and exploitation and foster inclusivity;

  • Ensure that technology is used to advance the interests of people with disabilities;

  • Protect the rights and civil liberties of people with disabilities in areas like voting, criminal justice, and parental custody; 

  • Promote affordable, accessible, and green living;

  • Ensure consistent access to affordable, high quality health care; and

  • Make America a leader in the fight for disability rights around the world.

We all do better when everyone has the opportunity to fully participate in all aspects of life, and together, we can realize a truly inclusive world. 

Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan for protecting the rights and equality of people with disabilities. 

Elizabeth Warren's plan for disability rights and equality grew from the community, and Elizabeth is grateful for the contributions of advocates like Maysoon Zayid.

EMPOWERING WORKERS 

Changes in our economy have left millions of working families hanging on by their fingernails. Wages have barely budged even as corporate profits have soared and worker productivity has risen steadily. The share of national income that goes to labor has declined and is near its lowest point in almost 70 years. 

These trends reflect a shift of trillions of dollars away from the pockets of working families. And they are all driven by a single underlying problem: American workers don’t have enough power. 

For generations, people of color have been shut out of their chance to build wealth—and nearly 40% of Muslims in the United States earn less than $30,000 a year compared with 32% of the U.S. population as a whole. It’s time for big, structural changes to put economic power in the hands of the American people.

Elizabeth’s agenda on empowering workers and raising wages has key goals, including: 

  • Expanding worker protections, combating discrimination by passing federal anti-discrimination legislation that includes traits associated with race like hair texture, and improving enforcement; 

  • Strengthening organizing, collective bargaining, and the right to strike, which includes protecting gig workers so they are able to form unions;

  • Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour for all workers, providing more overtime pay, and protecting pensions and other retirement savings;

  • Increasing worker choice and control by requiring large companies to let workers elect board members; 

  • Extending labor rights to all workers, including farm workers and domestic workers. Both farm workers and domestic workers are not covered by the NLRA and not fully covered by the FLSA and the OSH Act. Some of these exclusions date back to objections from Southern segregationist politicians in the 1930s, who did not want these workers (in many cases, disproportionately women and people of color both then and still today) to have basic worker protections. These exclusions hurt millions of workers and have no justification. That’s why I will fight to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and Fairness for Farm Workers Act, proposals that address these historical injustices. I’m also committed to ensuring that these workers have the right to organize, whether through the NLRA or some other means.

And there’s more: As President, Elizabeth pledges to nominate a demonstrated advocate for workers to fill any Supreme Court vacancy. Together, these changes will shift power back towards working people, boost America’s labor movement, and help create an economy that works for everyone.

Click here to read Elizabeth’s full plan on empowering American workers and raising wages.

ENTREPRENEURS OF COLOR

The playing field is tilted against entrepreneurs of color. On average, communities of color have a lot less wealth than white households. That means they have less of their own money to put into their businesses and less collateral available to attract outside credit. 

Elizabeth’s plan creates a new Small Business Equity Fund with $7 billion in funding to provide grants to entrepreneurs of color. It will operate through states and municipalities and be targeted at closing the startup capital gap for entrepreneurs of color by limiting it to those who have less than $100,000 in household wealth.

And it will support 100,000 minority-owned businesses and create over a million jobs – many of which would serve communities of color.

This Small Business Equity Fund is just one tool to address the racial wealth gap in our economy so that it’s working for all of us. To continue reading about this plan, click here.

EXPANDING SOCIAL SECURITY

One thing is clear: it’s getting harder to save enough for a decent retirement and Social Security has become a main source of income for most seniors. 

26% of AAPI beneficiaries, 33% of Black beneficiaries, 40% of LatinX beneficiaries rely on social security as their only source of retirement income.

Pay disparities and wrongheaded notions that value salaried work over time spent raising children or caring for elderly relatives are also barriers to financial security in retirement. When people spend time out of the workforce to provide care for a relative, their average lifetime earnings are smaller and so are their Social Security benefits. 

Elizabeth has helped lead the fight in Congress to expand Social Security, and her plan would provide the biggest and most progressive increase in Social Security benefits in nearly half a century. Elizabeth’s plan on expanding Social Security benefits would:

  • Increase standard Social Security and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits immediately by $200 a month — $2,400 a year — for every current and future beneficiary in America.

  • Change out-of-date Social Security rules to improve benefits for lower-income families, women, people of color, people with disabilities, and public-sector workers.

  • Value the work of caregivers by creating a new credit for people who take time out of the workforce to care for a family member—and recognize caregiving for the valuable work it is. 

  • Extend Social Security benefits to full-time students until the age of 24 if they’ve got a parent who has a disability or has died. 

  • Help people with disabilities build financial security and get the care they need by fully funding the Social Security Administration, rewriting eligibility rules to stop punishing beneficiaries for returning to work and eliminating the 5-month Social Security Disability Insurance benefits waiting period and the 24-month Medicare waiting period. 

Click here to continue reading about Elizabeth’s plan on expanding Social Security. 

FOREIGN POLICY

Elizabeth is committed to creating a government and a foreign policy that works for everyone—and that prioritizes every single person’s humanity. A Warren administration will:

  • End the Forever Wars and cut our bloated defense budget. For nearly two decades, America has been mired in a series of wars in the Middle East and beyond that has left us less, not more, secure. The wars have taken a staggering human and economic toll, and millions of civilians throughout the region have suffered, and we may never know the real number of lives lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover, they have cost trillions of dollars needed for urgent priorities here at home, created a drag on our economy, contributed to the decay of our democratic culture and institutions, stripped away at the civil liberties of Muslim communities, and paved the way for Trump’s ugly divisiveness. Elizabeth has a plan to end these endless wars, cut our defense budget, and rebuild our State Department and invest in diplomacy—because she knows that we can’t use our military to solve problems that can’t be solved militarily.

  • Protect marginalized communities and stand up for human rights. Elizabeth knows we must stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. That includes speaking out against China’s cruel, bigoted treatment of its Uighur minority and to hold China accountable for its abuses; fighting for reconciliation and accountability for the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Burma; condemning anti-Muslim violence in India and fighting for the rights and freedom of the people of Kashmir; and holding allies like Saudi Arabia to account for abuses of human rights. And when people rise up to demand a better future for themselves and their families, Elizabeth will stand with them—be it in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, or elsewhere.

  • Welcome those fleeing violence and oppression. At a time when 70 million are displaced around the world, our laws and our values compel us to help those fleeing violence and oppression. Elizabeth will start by rescinding Trump’s racist Muslim Ban on the first day of her presidency. She’ll raise the refugee cap to 175,000 refugees per year. And she’ll reinstate or extend Temporary Protected Status designations to protect individuals from countries like Syria and Yemen who are at risk in their home countries.

  • Re-enter the Iran Deal and de-escalate regional tensions. Donald Trump’s reckless policies have brought us to the brink of another war in the Middle East. Elizabeth will use strong, principled diplomacy in concert with our allies to negotiate both the U.S. and Iran back into a deal that is in everyone’s interests.

  • Fight for a two-state solution. Elizabeth believes in the worth and value of every Israeli and every Palestinian. A two-state solution is the best outcome for ensuring Palestinian rights, freedom and self-determination, for Israel's security and future, and for U.S. interests. It ensures an end to Israeli occupation and the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip—living alongside Israel in peace and security. Elizabeth will reopen the U.S. mission in Jerusalem to the Palestinians and make clear that in a two-state agreement both parties should be able to have their capitals in Jerusalem. And as president, she will take steps to fix the damage done by President Trump’s Middle East policies.

  • Tackle climate change. Climate change makes us all less safe, exacerbating the dangers posed by everything from infectious diseases to increasing climate catastrophes leaving millions displaced. Elizabeth knows we need a global effort to defeat the climate crisis – and as the world’s largest historical emitter, the United States has a special responsibility to reduce the structural inequalities that make some countries disproportionately vulnerable to its impact.

Getting this right will take work, but Elizabeth is committed to building and earning trust from Muslim communities in the United States and abroad. 

IMMIGRATION 

Immigrants have always been a vital source of American strength—and immigrants are every bit as much a part of America as those who were born in the United States. That’s why Elizabeth has a plan to create a fair immigration system that keeps families together, preserves our security, grows our economy, and reflects our values.

The amount of courage required to pick up and leave one’s home, or to seek refuge in a completely new place is unimaginable. And yet, more than half of Muslims in the United States were born abroad—and have built resilient, thriving communities here in the United States. 82% of all Muslims in the United States are citizens.   

Donald Trump has weaponized a flawed immigration system and advanced policies of cruelty and division that demonize immigrants - especially Black and Brown immigrants.

He has instituted a racist Muslim Ban, aggressively weakened asylum protections, and slashed refugee numbers. He’s also tried to revoke protections from recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), jeopardizing the future for hundreds of thousands of young people, and withdrew Temporary Protected Status (TPS), plunging hundreds of thousands of people into fearful uncertainty. And he has cruelly separated parents from their children and locked kids in cages.

Elizabeth believes our laws and our values compel us to help those fleeing violence and oppression. She will: 

  • Eliminate the Muslim Ban on day one of her administration.

  • Raise the refugee cap to 175,000 by the end of her first term, and reinstate Temporary Protected Status designations and Deferred Enforced Departure to protect individuals at risk in their home countries. 

  • Decriminalize migration, significantly reduce detention and end private detention facilities, and provide rights and due process for all immigrants. 

  • Reaffirm asylum protections for those fleeing violence.

  • Eliminate abusive enforcement by remaking Customs and Border Protection and ICE from top to bottom in a way that reflects our values, and holding those who violate immigrants’ rights accountable. 

  • Protect those seeking refuge, by providing information about the right to seek asylum, and coordinating with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help resettle children and families who need protection.

Elizabeth also supports increased legal immigration and expanded family reunification. And she knows that, for the good of our economy and our communities, it’s long past time to provide a path forward for the approximately 11 million undocumented individuals currently living and working in the Unites States. She will:

  • Make it easier to become a citizen or apply for legal status by removing unnecessary legal, administrative, and financial barriers. 

  • Reinstate the DACA program and protections for our Dreamers and their families, and expand the program to cover more young people. 

  • Roll back the Trump administration’s Public Charge rule change, which is forcing immigrant families to choose between staying together and ensuring their children have access to critical services. 

  • Establish an Office of New Americans dedicated to supporting new immigrants as they transition into our society and economy. 

Click here to read Elizabeth’s full plan for a fair and welcoming immigration system. 

IMPROVING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Every kid in America should have the same access to a high-quality public education—no matter where they live, the color of their skin, or how much money their parents make. 

And yet, right now, that’s not necessarily the case. Muslim parents are more likely to report that their child has heard a negative comment about their religion (46%). That’s nearly twice as large as Jewish parents (28%), and more than twice as large as Christian parents (20%). 

Meanwhile, school districts with predominantly people of color are grossly underfunded compared to white districts. 

Elizabeth has a comprehensive plan for our public education system. Her plan invests hundreds of billions of dollars in our public schools - paid for by a two-cent wealth tax on fortunes above $50 million - and makes a series of legislative and administrative changes: 

  • Renew the fight against segregation and discrimination in our schools: Elizabeth would combat practices - such as restrictive zoning laws and breakaway districts - that have helped retrench segregation in our public schools - while also reinstating and improving previous guidance protecting the civil rights of students of color and protecting the rights of English Language Learns and immigrant students.

  • Provide a warm, safe, and nurturing school climate for all our kids: Instead of increasing militarization of our schools, Elizabeth knows we need to invest in programs that make our kids feel safe and welcome at school. That means more school-based mental health professionals, culturally relevant and responsive curricula, and restorative justice programs to pull students into the classroom instead of pushing them out. I’ll also fight to limit the use of discriminatory dress codes targeting student dress and hairstyle that lead to students of color losing valuable learning time and Muslim students being denied participation in school activities.

  • Fund schools adequately and equitably: School districts serving 75% or more students of color receive $23 billion less in funding than districts serving 75% or more white students. Elizabeth would invest hundreds of billions of additional dollars in Title I and require states to fund schools more progressively, so that all students have access to a great public education.

  • Invest an additional $50 billion in school infrastructure across the country so that no student has to attend schools with lead pipes, molding walls, or crumbling textbooks.

  • Treat teachers and staff like the professionals they are: Elizabeth will strengthen the ability of educators to organize and bargain for just compensation, ensure that educators aren’t drowning in debt, and build a more diverse teacher and school leadership pipeline, with a $50 billion investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other Minority-Serving Institutions.

  • Stop the privatization of our public education system: All schools should be accountable to the communities where they’re based. That’s why Elizabeth supports the NAACP resolution for greater accountability and transparency of charter schools, a moratorium on federal funds toward the expansion of charter schools, and banning for-profit charter schools.

Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan on creating a great public school education for every student.

Students in school with police but no...

Bar graph of the number of police in schools compared to other personnel.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union View in full screen.

LGBTQ+ RIGHTS 

We need a president who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the LGBTQ community and fight back against discrimination in all forms. 

And in her plan for LGBTQ+ rights, Elizabeth lays out that a Warren administration will: 

  • End the murders of Black trans women by prohibiting the intersecting forms of discrimination that transgender women of color face and creating a new grant program that will specifically channel resources into organizations by and for transgender people, especially people of color; 

  • Fight to pass the Equality Act to explicitly guarantee that no LGBTQ+ person in America is discriminated against for who they are or who they love; 

  • Use every legal tool available to ban discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity through executive action; and

  • End the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people.

Click here to read Elizabeth’s plan on LGBTQ+ rights. 

MEDICARE FOR ALL 

87 million. That’s how many American adults in 2018 were uninsured or “underinsured.”

37 million American adults didn’t fill a prescription because of costs.

57 million people had trouble covering their medical bills. 

And we know that people of color face significant barriers to getting the health care coverage they need.

Tens of millions of people are one bad diagnosis away from going broke—but they don’t have to be. 

Elizabeth has a three-part plan to help as many people as possible, as fast as possible. 

Part One: Starting on Day One of her presidency, Elizabeth will protect people with pre-existing conditions, reverse the Trump Administration’s sabotage of our health care system, and take immediate action to bring down the high costs of many common prescription drugs, including Insulin and EpiPens. 

Part Two: Within her first 100 days, Elizabeth will push Congress to give everyone the chance to join an improved Medicare for All program that covers vision, hearing, mental health, dental, and long term care. She will lower the Medicare age to 50 and give everyone the opportunity to join a Medicare for All option that will be free for children under 18 and for millions of families making under double the poverty level (about $50,000 for a family of four). That’s a total of nearly 135 million Americans who could get free, high-quality coverage. For everyone else, the premiums will be modest. 

Part Three: Once everyone has the chance to try out the improved Medicare for All option, Elizabeth will push Congress, no later than her third year in office, to complete the transition to Medicare for All—to put $11 trillion back in the pockets of American families that will never pay another premium or deductible, without raising middle class taxes by one penny. 

When Elizabeth is President, everyone in America will be able to see the doctor they need and be covered for vision, dental, hearing, mental health, long-term care, and more—at little or no cost to them whatsoever.

No more out-of-network costs, no surprises, and no one going broke because they get sick.

To read more about how we’d pay for Medicare for All, click here. To read more about how we would transition our system to Medicare for All, click here.

PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

On average every day 100 people are killed in the U.S. by a gun—in shootings that occur in our homes, on our streets, at our playgrounds, at places of worship, and in hate crimes. 

We can’t wait any longer. That’s why Elizabeth’s plan for gun violence prevention includes: 

  • Executive action to rein in an out-of-control gun industry; 

  • Breaking the NRA’s stranglehold of Congress by passing sweeping anti-corruption legislation and eliminating the filibuster; and

  • Sending Congress comprehensive gun violence legislation to sign into law within the first 100 days. 

Specifically, Elizabeth will:

  • Take executive action to expand background checks, bringing the vast majority of private sales under the existing background check umbrella;  

  • Work with Congress to create a federal licensing system—because just like a license is required to drive a car, it should be required to purchase a firearm or ammunition;

  • Keep military-style assault weapons off our streets by passing a new federal assault weapons ban, banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, and prohibiting accessories that make weapons more deadly;

  • Secure our schools by improving the Gun-Free School Zones Act to include college and university campuses;  

  • Protect survivors of domestic abuse by closing the “boyfriend loophole” so that any intimate partner with a domestic violence conviction involving any romantic partner is not able to purchase a gun; 

  • Hold gun manufacturers liable for the harm they cause; and 

  • Prohibit anyone convicted of a hate crime from owning a gun. Instead of a president who winks and nods as white nationalism gets stronger in this country, we need a president who will use all the tools available to prevent it. 

Elizabeth has set a goal to reduce gun violence deaths by at least 80%—we’ll begin by implementing solutions we believe will work, and constantly revisit and update those solutions based on new public health research.  

Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan to address gun violence.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 

A majority of Muslims believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but extremist Republican lawmakers want to turn back the clock, outlaw abortion, and deny people reproductive care. People are scared and angry about what might happen to their reproductive rights, but this isn’t the moment to back down. It’s time to fight back. 

The women of color who have championed the reproductive justice movement also teach us that we must go beyond choice – to ensure comprehensive reproductive services, including STI prevention and care, birth control, comprehensive sex education, care for pregnant moms, safe home and work environments, adequate wages, and so much more. 

We must build a future that protects the right of everyone to have children, the right of everyone to not have children, and the right to bring children up in a safe and healthy environment.

Elizabeth’s plan calls on Congress to pass new federal laws that protect access to reproductive care by: 

  • Guaranteeing reproductive health coverage as part of all health coverage and ensuring that all future health coverage – including Medicare for All – includes contraception and abortion coverage; 

  • Ensuring equal access and reproductive justice by cracking down on violence at abortion clinics and making sure no one is discriminated against at work or anywhere else for the choices they make about their bodies;

  • Creating federal, statutory rights that parallel the constitutional rights in Roe v. Wade and that preempt state Targeted Regulations on Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which are designed to functionally limit and eliminate access to abortion care; and

  • Repealing the Hyde Amendment, ending the Trump Administration’s gag rule, and fully supporting Title X family planning funding, which many Muslim women depend on for essential reproductive health services. 

Click here to read about Elizabeth’s plan to protect reproductive rights. 

STUDENT DEBT AND FREE COLLEGE

About 31% of U.S. Muslims have a college or postgraduate degree - about the same share as the general U.S.population. But that figure masks the education challenges that Muslims face in the United States. Muslims born in the U.S. have a much lower rate of college attainment - 21%. And though foreign-born Muslims in the U.S. are more likely to have a college degree, highly educated immigrants to the United States often end up in low-skill jobs.  As a result, those who have the chance to do so often try to go back to school. 

Further, our current higher education system has a poor track record when it comes to serving communities of color: 

  • Asian American students face the highest gap between what they must pay to attend college and the financial resources available to them, no matter the students’ income level or the type of school they attend.

  • Because of factors like the size of student loans and discrimination in employment opportunities, Black students who finished a bachelor’s degree on average owed more than their original student loan balance after 12 years.

  • Latino students who do finish a bachelor’s degree on average owe a staggering 79% of their original loan balance 12 years later.

To strengthen our economy and address the failures of our higher education system - especially for communities of color - Elizabeth would tackle both existing student loan debt and the cost of college for future students. Elizabeth’s Student Loan Debt Cancellation Plan will

  • Cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for 95% of Americans who carry it;

  • Provide an enormous middle-class stimulus that will boost economic growth, increase home purchases, and fuel a new wave of small business formation; and

  • Substantially increase wealth for Black and Latino families and reduce both the Black-White and Latinx-White wealth gaps. In fact, Elizabeth’s plan would close the black-white wealth gap among people with student loan debt by 25%. 

Once we’ve cleared out the debt that’s holding down an entire generation, we’ll ensure that we never have another student debt crisis again. That’s why Elizabeth’s plan:

  • Gives every American the opportunity to attend a two-year or four-year public college or technical school without paying a dime in tuition or fees;

  • Makes free college truly universal—not just in theory, but in practice—by investing an additional $100 billion in Pell Grants, making higher education of all kinds more inclusive and available to every single American and helping cover living expenses so that more students can finish college debt-free; and

  • Establishes a minimum $50 billion fund for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions, including Tribal Colleges and Universities, to ensure these institutions have the resources they need. 

Click here to continue reading about how Elizabeth will cancel student loan debt and make higher education affordable. 

VALUING WORK OF WOMEN OF COLOR 

Our society and our economy demand so much of women—but they place a particular burden on Black, Latina, Native American, Asian, and other women of color. More than 70% of Black mothers and more than 40% of Latina mothers are their families’ sole breadwinners—compared to less than a quarter of white mothers.

The experiences of women of color are not one-dimensional: sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability all shape how a person’s work is valued in the workplace. But our economy should be working just as hard for women of color as women of color work for our economy and their families.

That’s why Elizabeth introduced a plan: a set of executive actions to implement on day one of the Warren administration to boost wages for women of color, open up new pathways to the leadership positions they deserve, and strengthen and target enforcement against systemic discrimination.  

Click here to read more about Elizabeth’s plan for valuing the work of women of color. 

ULTRA-MILLIONAIRE TAX 

The rich and powerful run Washington. And what’s more: After making a killing from the economy they’ve rigged, they don't pay taxes on that accumulated wealth. 

We need to fundamentally transform our tax code so that we tax the wealth of the ultra-rich, not just their income. The Ultra-Millionaire (or two cent) tax asks the very wealthiest people in the country to pitch in a little more so that we can fund crucial investments that provide opportunities for millions of Americans. 

Here’s how it works: A family with a net worth of more than $50 million – roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households – would pay 2 cents on every dollar of their net worth above $50 million and 6 cents for every dollar above $1 billion. 

That’s it – simple.

Wealth in this country is so lopsided that this small new tax on the tiny sliver of ultra-rich families will bring in $3.75 trillion over the next ten years. Think about how that money could be used. 

We can invest it in:

  • Universal child care and Pre-K, including raising wages for child care workers and preschool teachers, 

  • Free two- and four-year public college and technical school, 

  • Canceling student loan debt for 95% of people who have it, 

  • HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions, and

  • Financing Medicare for All to bring down health care costs for families.  

And with 40% of Muslim families in the United States earning less than $30,000 a year, all of these programs would especially help working class Muslim communities thrive. 

This is an investment in the future of our society.

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