Sunday, January 29, 2017

What's Going On With Trump's Order?

To hear some people, or read some Tweets, or read some protester signs, you'd think that President Trump has announced plans to round up the world's billion or so Muslims and either enslave them or exterminate them in concentration camps.  Trump is the new Hitler, after all.  (Wait a minute, wasn't Bush the new Hitler?  Oh, never mind.)   OK, maybe I exaggerate, but as pointed out by David French in National Review, so are some of Trump's critics.  From NR:
To read the online commentary, one would think that President Trump just fundamentally corrupted the American character. You would think that the executive order on refugees he signed yesterday betrayed America’s Founding ideals. You might even think he banned people from an entire faith from American shores.
French has one criticism for how the president's order has been implemented, with which I agree.  Some Green Card holders, in other words, immigrants who came here the right way, have reportedly been detained.  This would seem unnecessary, since these people presumably have already been vetted up to their eyeballs.  But in any event, to learn what's really going on, read French's article.

Meanwhile in Conservative Review (Why do we right-wingers like that word "review" so much?), Daniel Horowitz and Chris Pandolfo defend the president's order by attempting to separate the facts from the myths, and they're pretty bold about it.  From CR:
There is a lot of confusion swirling around the events that transpired this weekend as a result of Trump’s executive order on immigration. Make no mistake: every word of Trump’s executive order is in accordance with statute.
There's one important fact that the authors bring out, that cannot be overstated.  Back to CR:
There is no affirmative right, constitutional or otherwise, to visit or settle in the United States. Period.
I have heard, many times, that immigration is a privilege, not a right.  This is also true of visitation.  It's a privilege.  Anyone who wishes to dispute me on this needs to explain why I've needed to show a passport most of the times I've crossed an international boundary (which includes airports).  So let's get one thing straight about Trump's order, which is temporary and is applied to only seven countries and thus not to the entire Muslim world.  When someone is detained or denied entry under this order, there are absolutely zero rights being violated.  Read the article by Horowitz and Pandolfo.

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