“One of the earliest accounts of Islam’s presence in North America dates to 1528, when a Moroccan slave, called Estevanico by his Spanish masters, was shipwrecked near present-day Galveston, Texas.[15] He and four survivors subsequently traveled through much of the American southwest and the Mexican interior before reaching Mexico City.”
Not only was he Muslim, but he was in Texas! [gasp!!!!]
Does such a ‘presence’ make them natives? I don’t think so. I would think that such a ‘presence’ in no way or reference makes these shipwrecked persons ‘natives’ or ‘immigrants’. I would be interested in authentic Muslim presence before Jefferson’s time. Oil was not bait before the internal combustion machinery craze.