Carnage has ensued at airports in the United States (US) as President Donald Trump's immigration plan begins to take effect. But the questions to ask are, not only why is Trump advocating such a policy but what has been the reaction around the world?
The facts
First of all the facts. According to USA Today, President Trump has "suspended the US refugee programme for 120 days". In addition, all immigrants from seven Muslim countries (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen) have been banned from entering the country for ninety days. As the Guardian reported, this has led to "confusion and despair" at ports and airports as approved refugees, valid visa holders and non-US dual citizens are "detained, barred from planes or ordered out of the US".
There are a few examples of such action. An Iraqi translator who is a visa-holder, Hameed Khalid, was held for seventeen hours at New York's JFK Airport before being released, according to The Sun newspaper. As of last night (28th) there were ten others still being held at JFK as a result of the ban.
Why the ban?
But the first question to ask is, why is Trump advocating such a policy? It seems that the key reason is Security. As reported on the First Post website, the rationale behind such action was to "keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States". Trump went on to state that "we don't want them here" and that "we want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas".
In addition, Trump said that "we will never forget the lessons of 9/11" and that "we only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people".
The reaction?
The second question to ask is, what has been the reaction throughout the world? The Guardian noted that there has been "fury and anguish".
The UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that she "does not agree" with Trump's ban, and the International Rescue Committee called Trump's decision "harmful and hasty", as stated on CNN. In addition to this there have been protests held throughout the United States to show their dismay to what was happening.
Although Donald Trump may have his reasons, it simply is not viable to prevent people from entering a country simply because of who they are. It has caused international condemnation and so it should. Such a policy will surely send shockwaves throughout the world and threaten relations in particular with the Arab world.
