Ed Diokno
Views from the Edge
Dress it up anyway you want, but If it looks like a Muslim ban, sounds like a Muslim ban and acts like a Muslim ban; it’s a Muslim ban.
The Trump administration’s attempt to disguise their travel restrictions to countries by adding three more countries can’t hide the fact that the original six countries, predominantly Muslim, are still on the list.
“Let us not be fooled by the Administration’s guise of ‘Making America Safe.'” said Monica Thammarath, national president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. “This order is yet another attempt of a Muslim Ban and does the exact opposite of making us safe.”
Opponents of Trump’s immigration policies have announced plans for a NoMuslimBanEver rally on Oct. 18.
As Travel Ban 2.0 expired Sunday, the administration issued a new order – Travel Ban 3.0 – to take its place. Sudan, which was on the original list, was dropped from this expanded list. Besides Iran, Libya, Somalia Syria and Yeman, North Korea, Chad and Venezuela has been added.
As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it has postponed the oral arguments on Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0 to determine the constitutionality of the executive order. Arguments were supposed to be presented Oct. 10.
At the request from the administration’s Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, the justices request supplemental briefs from both sides by Oct. 5 because of the new version of the travel ban. In the letter, the Filipino American attorney emphasized that part of the March travel ban had expired, and the administration is putting in place the new restrictions after a worldwide review.
“Six of President Trump’s targeted countries are Muslim,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union. “The fact that Trump has added North Korea—with few visitors to the U.S.—and a few government officials from Venezuela doesn’t obfuscate the real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban,” he said in a statement. “President Trump’s original sin of targeting Muslims cannot be cured by throwing other countries onto his enemies list.”
The U.S. receives almost zero applications from North Korea. In fact, its government bans travel to the United States.
I don’t understand why Venezuela made the list. When was the last time that South American country sent terrorists to the U.S? The restrictions for Venezuela only apply to about 100 people closely associated with its current rulers.
“Adding new countries to a ban that baselessly vilifies whole populations does nothing to change the fact that this is still government-sanctioned discrimination,” said Naureen Shah of Amnesty International USA. “These restrictions will likely introduce further uncertainty for ordinary people who rely on the ability to travel, study and work in the US. Amnesty will be monitoring to see the effects of this revised ban on the lives of men, women and children around the world.”
Elica Vafaie of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, called the new travel ban “nonsensical” and “unconstitutional at its core.”
“Despite the president’s attempt to obscure this latest Muslim ban’s discriminatory intent, the newest policy remains discriminatory, unlawful, and unconstitutional at its core and deeply impacts our communities,” Vafaie said.
“This new nonsensical ban continues to discriminate against immigrants, refugees, and visitors from a group of majority Muslim countries.”
RE: Blog: Trump’s New Order is still a Muslim ban: Agh, where do I begin to address this absurd article complaining about a “Muslim Ban.” Under the guise of “Asian-Am” news, this article quotes people who clearly do not understand immigration law. What is unconstitutional about protecting our borders? As a former Vice Consul, I have first hand knowledge of our immigration laws and have been face-to-face with many applicants who fraudulently applied. NB: I said “many” not “every.” No one who has not worked on the first line of defense can begin to grasp the difficulty of vetting visa applicants with the added pressures of being solely responsible for your decision. Applicants will cry, scream, lie bold faced, threaten you, stalk you outside the office to scare you into giving them a visa. Consequently, I fully support any actions that support stronger vetting of applicants no matter what their country of origin. Please, AsamNews, enough on this topic! There are so many more relevant topics.