Every day since Donald Trump has placed a moratorium on travel from 7 Arab speaking countries, the political left has been distorting the facts about immigration and asylum in this country. They make it sound as if it is a "right" because, as many of their signs said: "No human being is illegal". Others point to the inscription -- "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore" -- on the base of the Statue of Liberty as proof that there should not be any limitations on entry into the U.S.. Some of our politicians even pictured "Lady Liberty" crying over the travel ban.
However, I find this all to be a bunch of bull.
First of all, where were all these whiners when Barack Obama, by executive order, ended the "wet foot dry foot" policy that had allowed Cubans to legally enter on the basis that they were escaping human rights abuses in Cubs?
More importantly, we have always placed restrictions on immigration and refugee status going all the way back to 1790. Today, we have specific and complex quotas regarding entry, including quotas for refugee migration by different areas of the world. In fact, under the current law, only 4,000 refugees may enter from Europe and Central Asia. This includes Western Asia, which makes up many of the countries on which Trump has imposed a travel ban.
I think many of the "liberal" protestors would be shocked to learn that, in 1965, then President, Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed into law, a ban on gays entering the U.S. The reasons given was that: (1) they were "mentally defective" and (2) they had "constitutional psychopathic inferiority". It wasn't until 1990, that that ban was lifted when a Republican President signed into law a repeal of the homosexual exclusion.
Additionally, there is the theatrics of showing the Statue of Liberty crying. Lady Liberty was never a symbol of immigration. She was a gift from the French people in celebration of 100 years of liberty. Her name given by her sculptor was "Liberty Enlightening the World". She has a book in her left hand with the year 1776 inscribed on it. There are broken chains around her feet. And, that famous torch symbolized a beacon for the rest of the world to embrace the freedoms and liberty that this country enjoys. The inscription at the base of the statue was added to raise funds to create a home for the magnificent statue. Those words were never the original intent.
Lastly, the ban is temporary and preventative. Those claiming that there has never been a terrorist who has come here from any of the 7 countries that encompass the ban defies reason. I'm quite certain that if a terrorist act resulted due to someone coming from any of those 7 places, the same people would be all over Trump for not taking the proper steps to have prevented it.
References:
‘Lady Liberty is crying,’ Democrats declare in wake of Trump’s visa, asylum executive order: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/28/lady-liberty-crying-democrats-declare-wake-trumps-/
'No human being is illegal': linguists argue against mislabeling of immigrants: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/06/illegal-immigrant-label-offensive-wrong-activists-say
Statue of Liberty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965
Immigration Act of 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1990
History of U.S. Immigration Policy: http://www.fairus.org/facts/us_laws
Obama ends 'wet foot, dry foot' policy for Cubans - USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/12/obama-ends-wet-foot-dry-foot-policy-cubans/96505172/
How the United States Immigration System Works: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works
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