I’ve been wanting to write about Donald Trump’s recent executive order on refugees and immigration, since the story broke. The story has created a global internet storm and caused huge protests at American airports as activists create online hysteria over what they consider a “Muslim ban”.
The fact so many people, including those in the mainstream media are calling this a Muslim ban demonstates a clear misunderstanding on the excecutive order, one which blatantly overlooks the facts.
The executive order has called for suspension of refugee admission for 120 days,whilst the new administration can improve the vetting process for refugees entering the United States. Unvetted refugees have already committed acts of terror across Europe including the recent German christmas market attack.
The order then caps admissions at a figure of 50,000 the same number that was allowed access to the United States under George Bush and the same number admitted under Obama in 2011 and 2012. It’s worth noting that Syria’s neighbours Saudi Arabia have accepted zero refugees since the conflict began a stance shared by several other countries in the region.
The order also imposes a temporary, 90-day ban on people entering the U.S. from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. These countries are currently engaged in conflicts with Jihadists movements or ran by Jihadist regimes. However besides Syria none of those seven countries are listed by name in the executive order and are instead referenced as “countries of concern”. These Countries were installed as “countries of concern” under the Obama administration and not by Donald Trump.
The move isn’t unprecedented Under President Obama’s regime the United States banned immigration and refugee admissions from Iraq for six months following terror concerns. This also affected Iraqi’s who fought alongside America.
The mainstream media is suggesting this will affect current residents of the United States, who have immigrated from these countries. This again is a false narative, a green card holder will not be affected from this ban as they have already been through the vetting process. Those who are presently travelling as part of the Visa Interview Waiver Program will also find their travel authorisations suspended and will be expected to under go in person interiews again to renew those but are expected to be able to travel following interview.
What the liberal left media will not tell you is that similar bans exist in Muslim countries which prevent those with connections to Israel from entering. These bans are not temporary and unlike Trump’s ban are religiously motivated. Presently there is only 13 countries in the world who exclude people on the grounds of been Muslim. They are Lebenon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Poland, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, Hungary, Egypt and Slovakia.
The order also puts a hold on Syrian refugees entering the country “until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.” This is a policy that existed until 2016 under Obama.
Once the ban is lifted the administation will “prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.” This could include Christian’s, Jews and of course Muslims. America’s federal asylum and refugee law already require a religious test to determine if someone is a refugee.
This temporary policy is been heavily sensationalised by the media and causing hysteria leading to protests across the United States and across social media. It overlooks the fact the countries of concern, where determined under Obama.
Runner Mo Farah has called Trump’s travel ban ‘ignorant and prejudiced’ and claims he unsure how it would affect him. However he has dual citizenship and is able to travel on a British passport meaning he wouldn’t be affected other then his citizenships would have to be declared at immigration if asked.
The ban does not affect those travelling on diplomatic visas such as politicians and diplomats. Foreign Military Personnel if they are either attached to NATO Allied Headquarters in the United States and are traveling on official business, or are entering the United States under NATO Status of Forces Agreement.United Nations officials travelling on a C2 visa or those travelling on G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 visas, such as representatives of international organizations and their immediate (dependent) family members.
The temporary order is a clear response to the migrant crisis in Europe, where undocumented refugees and migrants, eminating from the seven banned countries have caused chaos and if better background checks and vetting had taken place, recent terror attacks in Europe could have been avoided.
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