George Takei unveils petition against Muslim ban with 300K signatures

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Actor and activist George Takei unveiled a petition signed by more than 300,00 Americans opposing a Muslim ban by President Donald Trump during an event at Los Angeles City Hall on Monday.

"We are standing in solidarity with the Muslim community," Takei said. "Never again must this happen again in the United States."

The issue is one that hits close to home for the actor who shot to fame for his role as Hikaru Sulu on the hit TV show "Star Trek."

When he was 5 years old, Takei was one of about 120,000 Japanese Americans who were ushered into internment camps during World War II after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order.

Roosevelt signed the order 75 years ago this week.

"I remember the tall sentry towers with the machine guns pointed down at us," Takei recalled.

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Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Takei at the event and reminded of the time the Voyage of the St. Louis, a boat full of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, was turned away from the U.S.

"We turn back a boat of Holocaust refugees because somebody suspected or said there were German spies amongst them," Garcetti said. "That's eerily similar to the same language being used today. We can't take Syrians in because there might be somebody from ISIS amongst them."

The Muslim Public Affairs Council said the support its received has been overwhelming.

"That gives us a sense of hope, a sense of pride," Salam Al-Marayati, the president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council said.

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The petition will head to Washington where it'll be presented to members of Congress. Takei hopes it will also be presented to President Donald Trump.

"We are going to be relentless in raising the awareness on the part of Americans our history," Takei said. "Both the glorious and the shameful."