The sudden immigration ban—why it matters to all of us

By Laura Bohnert

If you thought President Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office would be quiet, you thought wrong. He’s already created quite the global commotion with new executive orders and newly broken agreements that directly impact a minimum of 9 other countries. Where does all the controversy centre? On the wall—I mean, border—of course.

On January 27, Trump issued an executive order temporarily blocking citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. The travel ban also suspends all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely bans the entry of Syrian refugees.

The countries involved include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—you know, the big terrorist threats: the countries that been proven to lead the highest number of attacks against the US, right? Wrong.

According to Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, between 1975 and 2015, zero people have been killed in terrorist attacks led by citizens of those seven countries on US soil. Nowrasteh’s research showed six Iranians, six Sudanese, two Somalis, two Iraqis, and one Yemeni to have been convicted of attempted terrorist attacks on US soil during that time period, but zero Libyans and zero Syrians have been convicted—even though Syrians are among the list of those who may be barred from the US indefinitely because their vetting process poses such a security threat.

In fact, the countries listed in the ban form some of the lowest terrorist risks to the US. The highest risk? US citizens. A report by New America quotes that “every jihadist who conducted a lethal attack inside the United States since 9/11 was a citizen or legal resident.”

But when has Trump’s rhetoric ever been based on facts, right Hillary?

Of the countries that form the highest risks? Countries that weren’t even mentioned in the travel ban: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt—not so coincidentally, three countries with whom Trump’s business empire holds multi-billion dollar licensing and deals.

But that’s all fake news, right? Nothing to see here. No conflict of interest. Pay no attention to the money behind the curtain.

It’s good to know that he’s still putting his business endeavours ahead of the security of his country—or the rest of the globe, for that matter. That’ll be good for the economy.

Trump’s business empire doesn’t have any connection to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. And we could probably guess that the Trump empire doesn’t have much to do with Australia or Mexico either, since Trump seems to be trying so hard to make friends with the leaders of those countries—you know, by throwing racist slurs at them, breaking agreements, and threatening to send in the troops.

It’s been a long time since Donald has had to play nice with the other kids on the playground. Unfortunately, these kids don’t play with toy guns.

But really, is it any wonder that the highest risk of murder, violence, and even terrorism comes from within a country that chooses its leader based on a campaign of hatred? The devastating impacts of that rhetoric are clear. Just look at the Quebec shooting. No one can pretend that Trump’s rhetoric isn’t stirring hatred, racism, bigotry, and violence even outside of US borders (in reactionary terms, maybe especially outside of US borders). Let’s just hope it comes to an end before World War III starts—and before Trump starts rounding people up. We really don’t need another Hitler on our hands.