Only a week into Donald Trump’s presidency and he has already signed several disastrous executive orders. On his first day in office, with the flick of a pen, the president signed executive ordered to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would leave millions of Americans without health care. On Monday, January 23 he signed a Presidential memorandum to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which will make in more difficult for women around the world to get safe reproductive health care. On Tuesday, January 24 the president signed another two memorandums to continue with the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. On Wednesday, January 25 Trump signed the executive order to start plans and construction for the wall he promised between the U.S. and Mexico border, which will cost American taxpayer up of $20 billion. Of all these executive orders and memorandums, the president has signed so far, the worst is the Muslim ban.
On December 7, 2015, Donald Trump, while campaigning, proposed "a complete and total shutdown of the entry of Muslims to the United States." Fast forward to Friday, January 27, 2017, president Trump signed the Executive Order: Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States. The order bans the entry of refugees from Syria indefinitely and bans people of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for 90 days. The religious majority of these 7 countries is coincidentally Islam. This ban does not only include refugees seeking safety, but also people with legal green cards and visas from these countries. After the order was signed travelers from these countries with legal green cards were detained and questioned or put on a plane back to their country of origin. Families were separated for hours on end in airports across the nation after the order was signed.
If you take a look back in history, you will discover that of all the major terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11, none of the extremists were from any of the seven countries in Trump's ban. There were 19 terrorists that hijacked four planes on September 11, 2001. Of the 19 men, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, 1 from Lebanon, and 1 from Egypt. The two men that planned the bombings during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, were from Kyrgyzstan. The couple that carried out the mass shooting in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, were from America and Pakistan. The man that raided the nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016, was an American citizen. Lastly, the man who responsible for the New Jersey and New York bombings on September 17, 2016, hailed from Afghanistan. None of these countries made the list for Trump’s “Terrorist” ban.
President Trump has since come forward after signing the ban, stating it “is not a Muslim ban”, however, there is a little loophole in the executive order that discriminates against those of the Islamic faith. In the executive order, it states that “religious minority” (AKA Christians) refugees are exempt from the ban. Since Muslims are the majority of the seven countries banned, this order is, in fact, a Muslim ban.
This ban is unconstitutional, immoral, and un-American. America is a nation of immigrants. This country prides itself on being a nation of diversity. Refugees are coming to America to find freedom and safety. They are seeking the American dream. However, America has now slammed the door in their faces. I believe President Trump has forgotten the words that are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We, as America, need to stand up for what is right now more than ever. We must stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters. As a wise man of the name George W. Bush once said, “Islam is peace.”
