Trump pick to lead the UN migration group has ‘pushed fear of Sharia law’ for years

Ken Isaacs could be the first US nominee to lead the organisation to be rejected

(Screenshot/YouTube Samaritan's Purse)

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the United Nations migration organisation has been sharing his view that Muslims want to impose Sharia law in the US for several years.

A CNN investigation revealed that Ken Isaacs has an “extensive history” of posting tweets promoting “anti-Muslim sentiments”.

The US usually gets to pick the person to lead the UN International Organisation on Migration (IOM) given that the majority of the 169-member group’s $1bn budget comes from the US. The organisation attempts to help with “humane and orderly migration” and resettling refugees through financial assistance, which includes millions of people fleeing from Syria, Muslim-majority countries in Africa, and the Rohingya from Myanmar.

Mr Isaacs is not wholly unqualified for the position - he has spent several years working on relief efforts for Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian-based charity, and worked as the foreign disaster assistance chief for the US Agency for International Development during former President George W Bush’s administration.

His nomination was announced last month and shortly thereafter, the Washington Post reported Mr Isaacs had posted a response to a CNN story regarding the terrorist attack in London. The story had quoted a Catholic bishop who said the violence was not what Muslim faith teaches.

Mr Trump’s nominee wrote: “CNN, Bishop if you read the Quran you will know ‘this’ is exactly what the Muslim faith instructs the faithful to do”.

Mr Isaacs’ Twitter account was then made private and remains as such.

He later issued a statement that read: “I deeply regret that my comments on social media have caused hurt and have undermined my professional record. It was careless and it has caused concern among those who have expressed faith in my ability to effectively lead IOM. I pledge to hold myself to the highest standards of humanity, human dignity and equality if chosen to lead IOM”.

CNN’s latest investigation uncovered even more tweets not found during the earlier Washington Post report.

Mr Isaacs retweeted Robert Spencer, who runs the blog Jihad Watch, when he had written: "'Islamophobia' is a smear term designed to intimidate people into fearing to oppose jihad terror." Mr Spencer was supporting Mr Trump’s earlier re-tweets of anti-Muslim videos posted by the far-right extremist group Britain First.

In July 2017, Mr Isaacs retweeted a user who had written that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio "allows Sharia law to creep into school & community. Appeasement will eventually destroy freedom” in response to the city’s decision to recognise Muslim holidays in public schools.

There were several other incidents of retweets indicating that Muslims are terrorists and their religion is not a peaceful one.

The State Department said in a statement that it would continue to support Mr Isaacs’ bid for the position, despite concerns brought up by member countries.

In June, Mr Isaacs will need to be elected by two-thirds of the member countries in IOM in order to fill the role and he may prove to be the first US nominee not to get the position.