Donald Trump`s “immigration or Refugee Ban”: What Are the Main Targets?

DONALD TRUMP`S “IMMIGRATION OR REFUGEE BAN”: WHAT ARE THE MAIN TARGETS?

Elmira Hasanova

Project specialist at Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University

E-mail: e.hasanova@asoiu.edu.az

          The executive order named Immigration or Refugee Ban on “Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States” (In some sources it is called Muslim Ban)   which was signed on January 27, 2017 by the US President Donald Trump caused a great condemnation around the world. According to this order people from seven predominantly Muslim-majority nationals and dual nationals including, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were barred from entering the United States for a period of 90 days. It has suspended all refugees for a period of 120 days and Syrian refugees as well. Morever, certain visa categories are exempted like diplomatic visa holders medical treatment  and the UN delegations visa.

    While delivering speech the US President Donald Trump explained his attitude with these words: The executive order will help keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US.

   But what are the advantageous and disadvantegeous targets and objectives of  this immigration or refugee ban? Initially, let`s review adventageous side of it:

• To reduce refugee fled to the US (the number of refugees allowed to enter the US in 2017 is descended from 110.000 to 50.000). It can cause many problems within the country, such as, isolation, burglary and hijacking etc.;
• To protect country and nationals from all kinds of hazardous accidents and secure them;
• To avoid terror attacks, ongoing conflicts and  keep radical group members, people with criminal background and the members of terrorist organizations away from the borders of the US;
• It does not ban all the population from those countries of all types of visa issues, as I mentioned above, visa issues for urgent and emerging situations are acceptable;
• Green card holders were not barred from re-entering the US;
• The President directed the suspension of admission of certain persons from specific countries was limited to a 90-day period to allow government agencies to ensure their vetting and approval processes are thorough and complete; Trump did not say that Christians should receive priority over everybody else. The text of his executive order only said that religious minorities should have priority. Here’s the relevant passage of the EO (which as of Sunday afternoon, had disappeared from the White House website).

    Upon the resumption of USRAP admissions, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, is further directed to make changes, to the extent permitted by law, to 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. Where necessary and appropriate, the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security shall recommend legislation to the President that would assist with such prioritization;

• More oppurtunitues for Americans in terms of jobs, education, priorities etc;

      There are some disadvantageous sides of the executive order. Now let`s review cons of the Immigration Ban. I entitled them as below:

• Countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt are not on the list. Sixteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Many people have pointed out that Trump has business ties to these countries.

     Many commentators have said there was no academic rigor behind the order. It doesn’t seem to have been coordinated with federal agencies, which have said they don’t understand how to implement it. NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio said there was no notification or coordination with local authorities, either;

• Since Trump is banning immigration for several countries, America is less likely to get benefits from the respective countries;
• The rollout of this executive order was a complete disaster.

     In the immediate aftermath of the official release of the executive order, there was a lot of confusion and apparent incompetence on behalf of the Trump administration. GOP congressional leaders were left in the dark altogether and there was even poor communication between Trump’s immediate circle and his cabinet picks like Rex Tillerson, General James Mattis and General John Kelly. Now there is panic and in-party fighting between Congress and Trump. It was completely rushed and it frankly made it look like it was amateur hour at the White House. Let’s  just hope that a lesson was learned from this self-inflicted chaos;