Pascrell Denounces Trump Scheme to Extradite Gulen

Sending dissident to Turkey would violate due process, undermine American commitment to human rights

PATERSON, NJ – Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. reacted to reports that Donald Trump has promised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would seek to extradite Fethullah Gulen and other Turkish dissidents to Ankara.

“Donald Trump continues to show his affinity for strongmen and his disdain for the rule of law and human rights. As a political dissident facing religious persecution and retaliation in his home country, Mr. Gulen does not deserve to be a pawn in Trump’s attempts to cover up the murder of a U.S. resident for the increasingly lawless Saudi royal family. To Trump, America’s protection of our values is always negotiable. But we cannot and should not bend to the will of dictators and autocrats. In the United States we stand up for the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution. Political dissidents deserve America’s protections, not be subject to Donald Trump’s duplicitous schemes.”

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