Time to expand the Trump travel ban (again)
It was recently announced that new countries were added to President Trump's list of travel-restricted nations. Contrary to the anti-Trump narrative, this list is far from a Muslim ban. It was wise to add Chad to the list, already including Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Libya, with Venezuela and North Korea included as well. Now the ban should be expanded, our the interest of our national security.
The president, in fulfilling a pillar of his campaign promise of extreme vetting of refugees and immigration from war zones, is doing the right thing. Having said that, Sudan should have been left on the list, with the addition of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kenya, and the Chechen region of Russia as well. These are all war-torn or terrorist-supporting countries whose citizens should not become U.S. citizens.
Just as the decision to remove Sudan from the list of countries was announced, we learned the identity of the shooter in Tennessee, who left one person dead and many injured. This shooter was indeed from Sudan and may not even be a U.S. citizen. The media seemed to have less coverage of the shooting once the suspect was determined not to be an American. This comes on the heels of a deadly shooting at a New York hospital this summer perpetrated by a Nigerian immigrant and a number of cases of Somalians wanting to fight with terror groups overseas.
Parts of Africa are clearly war zones with a culture of brutality and violence like much of the Islamic world. As Professor Amy Wax of the University Of Pennsylvania opined in a now famous column "not all cultures are equal." We must ask ourselves regarding war-torn cultures: is this something we want to import to America?
Finally, despite claiming to fight terror, Saudi Arabia has been at the forefront of supporting terrorism since before 9/11. Many of the infamous hijackers were Saudis, and there is now evidence that lower-level members of the Saudi government may have helped in the attacks. Despite this, America continues to see the Saudis as allies. Is Sept 11 not justification enough to ban Saudi immigration and student visas?
With the election of this president, America sent a clear message: no more open borders, with a major overhaul of our immigration system. Contrary to leftist talking points, it's not a right to immigrate to this country, but a privilege. Those regions known for violence and terror should no longer send their people to America. Our immigration policy should be pro-American, not pro-Third World.
President Trump is correct in expanding the travel ban. Now it should be expanded even more.