As a nation founded by immigrants, in the promise of a better life, The United States should be welcoming immigrants not shutting them out. President Trump’s Executive Order: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, does just the opposite. House Bill 724 is calling for the President’s Executive Order to be null and void. I am in favor of Bill 724.
Background
On January 27, 2017 President Trump signed the Executive Order: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. His Executive Order bans, for 90 days, people from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. The countries are: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. His Executive Order also bans all refugees for 120 days, and Syrian refuges indefinitely. His goal, to keep out radical Islamic terrorist. Immediately, the country fired back and started protesting.
Introduction
On January 29, 2017, just 2 days later, bill 724 was introduced. The goal of bill 724 is that there shall be no force or effect, and prohibits the use of Federal funds to enforce the Executive Order that Trump signed; declaring Trump’s Executive Order null and void. This bill is important because Trump’s Executive Order goes against the very founding of our country, it is unconstitutional, problematic, and it directly affects up to 90,000 people. It needs to be stopped. People should care because odds are they know someone who is either directly or indirectly effected by Trump’s travel ban. More importantly, people should care because the individuals who are affected are being unjustly discriminated against. They are human beings who deserve respect, compassion, and to be evaluated on their merit, not their country of origin or religion.
Issues with Trump’s Executive Order
Trump has the right idea of wanting to ban terrorist and keep the country safe, but he is forgetting a few key factors. First, Trump’s ban does not specially target people who have terrorist ties, it is considered a blanket ban that targets anyone from those 7 countries. He wants America to learn from 9/11, but ironically does not include the countries where the perpetrators of 9/11 came from. His goal is to ban Muslims from entering the country because he thinks that Islam is the problem. His ideology is seriously flawed. Terrorist groups, like ISIS, are a serious threat, but to say that they represent Islam is comparison to saying that the KKK represents Christianity. Finally, the vast majority of terror attacks on the U.S. are domestic not foreign. Foreign terrorism-related deaths represent .39 % of all murders over the past 40 years.
Conclusion and Recommendations
America needs for bill 724 to pass to undo the destruction of what President Trump’s Executive Order created. Trump’s Executive order will not accomplish the goal of keeping America safe from terrorism. I urge you to take a stand and support bill 724. You can do this by writing or calling your local legislators and telling them to vote yes. You can participate in protest against Trump’s ban. The easiest thing you can do is engage in dialogue about this topic with others. Spread your knowledge and refuse to be silenced.
