September 24, 2017

Photo by Geoff Livingston (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Today, the White House announced severe travel and immigration restrictions targeting eight nations: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. This new policy is explicitly framed as a replacement and extension of the so-called Muslim travel ban.

While the White House claims that these new actions are necessary to ensure our national security, they represent only the latest affront in a consistent line of discriminatory actions. Time and again, President Trump has explicitly and proudly proclaimed his intent to ban Muslims from entering and immigrating to our country. Time and again the federal courts and the will of the American people have thwarted his attempts.

“This latest executive order broadens the ban, rather than scaling it back,” says Omar Noureldin, a lawyer and MPAC Vice President. “Given the impending oral arguments at the Supreme Court on October 10th, this change was likely made to create the illusion that it is not intended to target Muslims. Intentional discrimination, however, under constitutional law does not require the discriminator do a good job of discriminating as long as there is evidence of discrimination. The Supreme Court can still find that the ban discriminates against Muslims, and is ultimately unconstitutional, because of President Trump’s own words.”

18 states and 161 companies filed amicus briefs stating that the ban hurts our economy and 50 national security experts, from Republican and Democratic administrations, say the ban is not sound national security policy. The Department of Health & Human Services recently reported that immigrants have a net positive impact on the American economy.

The travel ban, and its various iterations, is another Trump policy that will in fact, make us less safe. With every hostile and confrontational tweet, with every ally publicly snubbed, with every national pact that the President withdraws from, and with every foreign officer removed from the State Department, the President is further isolating America from the rest of the world and sending a dangerous message to the international community that America is no longer interested in its global leadership role. It’s really simple: when we have less respect and influence, we have less friends and security.

All Americans want America to be secure, but this ban is not about national security. It is about fulfilling a campaign promise rooted in fear of Muslims and immigrants. We can and must achieve national security objectives without discriminating and perpetuating the false narrative that Muslims and immigrants are a threat to our country.