Politics

Trump’s Pick For UN Migration Agency Leader Shot Down As Anti-Islam

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President Donald Trump’s pick for director general of the United Nations migration agency was rejected on Friday by the organization’s member states, meaning the agency will not be U.S.-led for the first time in 49 years.

Trump’s nominee Ken Isaacs, an executive at Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, was cut after three rounds of voting. Members of the International Organization for Migration view Isaacs as anti-Islam, making them reluctant to choose him as the replacement for retiring U.S. diplomat William Lacy Swing, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.

Isaacs has tweeted about Islam being an inherently violent religion. He wrote on Twitter that “Islam is not peaceful” after the 2016 terrorist attack in the French city of Nice, reported Yahoo. Isaacs’ Twitter has been private since he was nominated for the position in February.

Isaacs was appointed by former President George W. Bush to oversee disaster relief at the U.S. overseas aid agency from 2004 to 2005, reported Reuters.

With Isaacs eliminated, the new leader of the migration agency will likely be Portuguese politician Antonio Vitorino or current International Organization for Migration deputy chief Laura Thompson.

This will be the first time that the agency is led by a non-U.S. diplomat in its 67-year history with the exception of a period from 1961 to 1969, according to Yahoo.

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