On October 22, Trump’s 120-day refugee ban came to an end. Also on that day his administration’s new refugee plan was officially announced and implemented. With the new plan, the refugee admission process has been reinstated but with a couple of catches.
For one, the cap for refugees coming into the country has been set at a record low. 45,000 refugees will be allowed to be admitted in 2018, the lowest cap since the 1980’s.
The other stipulation set on the plan is that refugees from 11 countries will be put through much more advanced screening than refugees from other parts of the globe. The 11 countries are speculated to be Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
The official announcement of the 11 countries has not been officially released yet.
This plan has been criticized by many as xenophobic, racist, islamophobic, and any number of other nigh meaningless terms that people can come up with.
Personally, I think the plan is excellent. The United States is in an era of crisis, an era of war. In times such as these, drastic measures such as this refugee plan have been the historical precedent. Whether or not these measures were ethical, right, etc. are irrelevant to the discussion.
What is important is that this is what people, and more important nations, do in times of distress.
People claim the ban is racist because it affects mainly Muslim countries. Last I checked, Muslim was not a race. It is disgusting to see race and religion being confused like this. They are not interchangeable.
The races of people who live in the aforementioned 11 countries range from African to Asian, to Middle Eastern, and everything in between.
Race is not the issue here. It never was.
People then like to claim that the ban is islamophobic because the most of the areas affected are Muslim-majorities. My response to this argument is yet more logic. If a nation knows where their enemies are (in this case radical Islamist terrorists), why in the world would that nation let people from that region into their country? Obviously the vast majority of people that could be let it would not be harmful to the nation, many of them would even be beneficial to the nation as a whole.
All it takes, however, is the possibility of a few enemy infiltrators to seal the deal. Also, historically many refugees from these countries have been Christians fleeing persecution. The ban affects people of all faiths.
During WWII all immigration from Axis nations to the U.S. was halted. U.S. citizens from these nations were held in contempt, many were even put into internment camps. The reason being, national security. Espionage, sabotage, terrorism. These are the tools of national destruction that these individuals could have potentially been carrying.
The same can be said during the height of the Cold War and Russian immigrants in the U.S. Contempt and suspicion ran rampant, and for good reason! People are quick to point out that these examples are not comparable to today’s situation.
My response to that would be that no, today’s situation is much worse. It only takes one individual armed with a gun, a bomb, a truck. Dozens killed, hundreds injured. We see it happen now with such regularity that these abominations no longer phase us. Domestic terror is prevalent as well, I will not deny that. Just look at Vegas. This type of terror is much harder to predict because, simply, it is unpredictable.
The refugee ban, however, targets a set pattern that we know exists. How anyone can argue against effective terrorism prevention, is beyond me.
The claim that the U.S. is somehow xenophobic because our government wants to protect and put our citizens’ interests first, is absurd. We are the “Melting Pot.” We are the “Land of Opportunity.” No matter what anyone says, I still continue to believe that the U.S. is the most welcoming, accepting, and immigrant-friendly nation on earth. We are a nation built from the ground up by immigrants, and as long as we exist we will continue to thrive on immigration.
It is infuriating to me that ignorant, self-righteous people claim that we are xenophobic as a nation. We have one of the most diverse populations in the world, a population that also the freest compared to any other nation.
Why do these people not criticize First World East Asian nations for their lack of diversity and their xenophobic tendencies? Last year Japan accepted a whopping 28 refugees. How is that possible? Japan is one of the most powerful nations on Earth.
Why, if Japan, China, and South Korea do not have to accept tens of thousands of refugees, should we feel obliged to? Why are these nations allowed to keep their populations 99% homogenous, while Western nations must pick up the slack?
Speaking of Western nations, if you want to see why this refugee ban is the right move on so many levels, just look at Western Europe. These nations have let in exorbitant amounts of refugees and asylum seekers in recent years. What have they to show for these seemingly grand humanitarian steps?
Regular terrorist attacks that kill dozens of their citizens annually, a drain on their economies caused by the vast amount of refugee unemployment and welfare enrollment, and a complete transformation of parts of their ancient cities into “no-go zones” wracked with a crime.
If this is what we have to look forward to by accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees, then I would say no thank you.
I am grateful to President Trump for his harsh stance on these topics. I truly believe this is the right course for America in the current situation.
Hopefully, as years go on, the refugee cap can be brought back to earlier levels. As of now though, 45,000 is more than enough.