Trump’s travel ban; revealing two Americas

Jun 12, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The radical left wing collectively lost its mind when United States President Donald Trump signed the executive order temporarily curtailing the immigration of refugees from seven Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Syria) all well known for exporting jihadists. Let us not forget that within the executive order there is not one mention of Muslim ban, but one would never know that, judging by the negative and distorted media coverage.
Most people have the impression that it is a Muslim ban, simply because the media keeps telling them it is. The hysterical backlash, and complete distortion by the media, coupled with the grandstanding by politicians and celebrities only serve to reveal the deep divisions within America’s society. No wonder then that so many are concerned about a “Muslim ban” if that is what they’re confronted with on their television news.
A great deal of the existing chaos and confusion surrounding the executive order (halted by the court so far) is attributable to the manner in which the order was carried out. According to political commentator, Ben Shapiro, mistakes in its application and legal errors in the document itself caused major problems because of “incompetence of the highest order. Even those in support of President’s Trump’s order have been almost universally critical of the manner in which it was carried out. The United States Border and Custom Services also appeared to be caught off guard and were confused by what the order meant. Given the current division and the existing climate of hostility in the House, it behooved the U.S. administration to have done their utmost to ensure that the order went into force more smoothly.
Very few on either side in this divided America are interested in any kind of unity. One side is seizing any opportunity and excuse to make out that the other side is basically ‘Hitlerian’ in nature. In a clear and unequivocal manner America’s national security is at risk, but seemingly far too many are armed and ready to attack Donald Trump than they are to keep America safe.
That does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that the ban is the correct measure, but one can certainly disagree in the absence of repeated and open reference to Hitler. Judging from the behaviour of the American populace at large, it is apparent even to the profoundly myopic that Donald Trump is grossly abhorred, and as a consequence whatever is connected to him automatically evokes a similar reaction.
Where was this similar hysterical reaction and protests when President Barack Hussein Obama used a pen and a phone to restrict refugee admissions during his presidency? In 2011, Obama banned Iraqi refugees for six months, and it was not until his last year in office that he allowed large numbers of Syrian refugees to come to America. Before he left office another of his final gestures was the abolishing of the “wet foot” “dry foot”’ policy that ensured a safe haven for Cuban refugees fleeing Fidel Castro’s prison. During the period when the Syrian War was raging, Isis rising, and refugees were swamping Syria’s neighbors and surging into Europe, the Obama administration allowed in less than a trickle of refugees. Only in the final days of his presidency did he reverse course albeit in an insignificant manner, and the numbers were grossly insufficient to make a dent in the overall crisis.
The Obama administration left somewhat of a deliberate power vacuum, partly through its withdrawal from Iraq, and moreso in part through its dithering throughout the Syrian Civil War which provoked the refugee crisis in the first place. A genocide took place on Obama’s watch, and the small trickle of Syrian refugees is poor atonement for the ludicrous negligence of deserting Iraq, along with his prolonged mishandling of the then emerging Syrian crisis.
Where were all the protesters and placard wavers when the Obama administration turned a blind eye and perhaps a deaf ear too toward innocent Syrians being gassed and bombed? Two hundred thousand Syrians are claimed to have died, and nothing was done by the U. S government, except drawing red lines in the sand. Millions of Syrians fled and are now desperate refugees.
Again, where were the Facebook postings denouncing the government’s behavior, rallies, protest at past government’s inaction in defense of the defenseless? No it is clear that we bleed only when we are told to bleed. President Trump has every good reason to be concerned about jihadist infiltration into refugee camps. The terrorists themselves have openly boasted about sneaking into Europe and America through cracks in the immigration process. Then again Europe and America have not escaped the barbaric acts of jihadism.
Confronting this threat head on, the President’s executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies to conduct a thorough review of their screening processes for refugees. For this to be done, refugee entry from the seven mentioned nations has been put on hold for four months. President Trump has actually backed down dramatically from his campaign promises, as the executive order is nowhere close to the Muslim ban that he sometimes floated about on the campaign trail.
He also limited the number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. each year to 50,000, which is about where it stood during the presidency of George W. Bush and the first few years of President Obama.
The executive order of Donald Trump is not a betrayal of American values, but should be viewed instead as a call for a fresh look at America’s immigration policies and border control.
Yvonne Sam

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