President Trump signed a controversial executive order on Jan. 27, which was later blocked by a federal judge, banning people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia from traveling to the U.S., according to CNN.
CNN reported the executive order applied to those with visas and green cards, barring all travel from those majority Muslim countries without distinction.
The Washington federal judge, James L. Robart, was quick to question the legality of the ban, and temporarily block its effectiveness. He said “there’s no support” for the administration’s idea of prohibiting travel from those nations.
BYU-Hawaii students were also critical of the ban.
“I’ve heard statistics talking about terrorism,” said Christopher Wiley, a senior from Oregon majoring in music composition. “There hasn’t been a single terroristic killing from any of these countries. It’s recently been overruled by a federal judge, so it’s kind of in limbo right now. I’m interested to see where it goes.
“I think executive orders in times like these are a little excessive. Something like this seems more discriminatory than helpful. It’s fulfilling a rhetoric that Islamic terrorism is coming from countries like this, when it’s not necessarily. Most of the terrorists that we’ve had are from our own country. It’s really illogical to make bans like these on immigrants that are fleeing war torn countries.”
According to PolitiFact, all terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11 have been perpetrated by U.S. citizens. A quarter of those citizens converted to extremist Islam later in life. PolitiFact said no one on U.S. soil has been killed by anyone who has immigrated from these seven countries since 9/11.
Michaela Adams, a freshman from Utah studying broadcast journalism, said, “I’m kind of against it because not all Muslims are the same. I think that’s a huge assumption. I also think it gives the United States a horrible reputation. It causes more people to dislike us. It also causes more chaos.”
The ban met global opposition, with people all over the world participating in marches and demonstrations. International leaders such as Justin Trudeau condemned the ban, and welcomed refugees into Canada, according to CNN.
President Trump continually defended his executive order through social media by saying the seven countries banned came from a list President Obama created of terror-prone countries, according to CNN. Eventually, President Trump tweeted, “If something happens, blame [James L. Robart] and the court system. People pouring in. Bad!”
The New York Times reported a panel of three federal judges blocked President Trump’s plea to reinstate the travel ban, on the grounds it does nothing to advance national security.
Sirimus Chatyairat, a senior from Thailand studying finance, said, “Economically, I think it’s not a bad idea. Obama deported 3 million people when he was in office. If you move all the refugee people, and make sure they are really the people suffering, then it’s a good idea to bring them to America.
“But, if you bring all the better-off people from their countries, who is going to make the economy grow in their country? No one. But, if you make sure they are the refugee people who really need help, like sick people or kids, then bringing them in would be the wise thing to do.
“I don’t like [President Trump’s] idea because it’s not human. He’s just using his business logic. The reason I don’t agree with his idea is because, first of all, the media made it really big. But, I don’t think it’s about race anymore, it’s about the economy. It’s about politics. It’s about the power that he has.”
Writer: Savanna Bachelder