Trump's Irrational Ban on Immigration
President Trump recently signed into effect a series of executive orders. The most controversial order targeted immigration from Muslim-majority countries. The order bars the entry of any refugee in America for 120 days and further forbids the entry of all refugees from Syria indefinitely. It also prohibits the citizens of seven countries from entering America—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen—no matter what their visa status is. Green card holders were detained at airports across the country, but an official of the Trump administration stated that their applications would be handled on a “case-by-case basis.”
The effects of this executive order have been immediate and grave, with immigrants, refugees and green card holders being taken into custody at airports right after the announcement of the executive order. One of the people detained at JFK Airport included an Iraqi man who had risked his life to be a translator for the U.S. Army in his country. Another included a refugee’s daughter, who, after a long and arduous vetting process, had finally been granted a visa for entry into America. Her family in Maine had expected her to arrive any day, but due to Trump’s executive order, she now remains unsafe in Iraq. There are already countless stories of college students being denied access to their education, people unable to return to their jobs because they went to visit parents abroad and families being ripped apart by this irrational order.
First, according to numerous sources, this ban will not have any benefits in the fight against terrorism. The Sept. 11 terrorists originated from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, and yet none of these Muslim-majority countries are on the banned list. According to CNN, the Trump Organization has coincidentally conducted business in these countries. In the past 15 years, no perpetrators of large-scale terrorist attacks in the name of Islam have come from countries on the banned list either. In fact, the amount of fatal terror attacks carried out by refugees in America comes to a grand total of zero. Most of the people who execute terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are actually U.S.-born citizens, not refugees, and the travel ban would not have affected any previous perpetrators of terrorist attacks done in the name of Islam. Let’s not even get started on how mass shootings are an even larger problem domestically, of which, according to data from Mother Jones, white men are the most likely perpetrators.
In addition, this ban will only serve to further the rhetoric of terrorists. Terrorist organizations such as ISIS base a lot of their propaganda on the “fight against the West” and say that America is at war with Islam. If we continue to explicitly target people from Muslim-majority countries, it will only fuel the flames of hatred in these groups and galvanize citizens from those countries into taking action against America. By banning refugees and immigrants from several Muslim countries and prioritizing Christian refugees, the Trump administration is telling the world that the plight of Christian refugees takes precedence over the oppression of Muslim ones.
America has long been called a melting pot, a nation of immigrants. If this is true, the acceptance of immigrants cannot only be extended to white, Christian ones. We cannot ever forget that the land our feet stand on originally belonged to Native Americans, not to European immigrants. Immigrants throughout history and Muslims now are risking their lives and leaving behind everything they have for a chance at a new beginning and to flee persecution in their home country. While doing so, they deserve dignity, not humiliation and further obstacles to overcome.
During World War II, Anne Frank and her family were denied entry to America as refugees. As we look upon that time with sadness, we also see history repeating itself. We have to do better. Now, we have to lend our voices to the voiceless and become an ally in the fight for fundamental human rights.