Readers Write: Travel ban makes us less safe, less American

The Island Now

Give me your tired, your poor

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Emma Lazarus

“The New Colossus”

Emma Lazarus penned these words in 1883 and 20 years later they were placed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

For over two centuries these welcoming words greeted waves of immigrants coming to America, including Donald Trump’s mother in 1929.

So what did Trump do in his first week in office?

He issued the “Muslim Ban” executive order which indefinitely suspended the U.S. refugee program for Syrian nationals.

And what was his rationale? He claimed that tens of thousands of Syrians — mostly young men —  were streaming into the U.S. Since Trump is the master of “fake news,” let’s set the record straight.

The U.S. has taken in only around 15,000 Syrian refugees (0.2 percent) of the nearly 5 million persons fleeing that war-torn nation.

As to the charge that most Syrians who enter the U.S. are “young men,” this too is patently false.

They are, in fact, mostly women and children. If Trump were looking for a real terrorist, it would be Bashar al-Assad, who has terrorized his own people killing 109,347 civilians.

But what of the argument that it only takes one terrorist to wreak havoc?

Again, a fact check is useful. Of the 745,000 refugees who entered the U.S. since 9/11, only two were charged with terrorist related activities.

The truth is that, historically speaking, refugees are the safest persons coming to America.

Given these facts, the question arises — Why does Trump  lie to the American public about the dangers of Syrian refugees?

The answer — he is appealing to our xenophobia.

Frighten the electorate and appeal to their worst instincts.

Trump lives in a world of absolutes — you are either a “good guy” or a “bad guy” or to use the Trumpian term “bad hombres.”

Obviously, Syrian refugees are bad guys.

Finally, it is important to answer the charge that the vetting process the U.S. has been using is not doing the job. The  CBS-TV show, “60   Minutes” put the lie to this myth.

On that show, Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, explains.

First, there are multiple interviews by the U.N. including vital statistics, where the applicant comes from and whom they know.

They are given an “iris scan” to establish their identity. The U.N. then refers them to a country for resettlement.

If it’s the U.S., the State Department runs background checks and creates a file for each individual.

Specially trained interrogators conduct additional interviews looking for gaps or inconsistencies in the refugees’ stories. All this  information is run through databases for any red flags.

The final step is screening by a team of doctors before departure to America.

This exhaustive process can take anywhere from 18 to 24 months.

No self-respecting terrorist wants to wait that long! And again, we have a president posing a solution to a problem which doesn’t exist. In addition to all other reasons for rejecting

Trump’s position is the fact that the ban alienates our allies and friendly Muslim countries around the globe.

Gina Kassem, head of the State Department’s refugee resettlement program in the Middle East, points out that Syrian refugees are often victims of torture, survivors of violence, and persons in need of medical care.

For them, America is a safe haven, a place where the long-suffering and vulnerable  can feel secure.

The alternative is to embrace Trump’s cramped and mean-spirited executive order. George Washington had it right when he said:

I’d always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.”

Postscript:  In a world where “fast-breaking news”  is the norm, one writes about current happenings at some risk.

This is especially true when you have a president whose latest tweet may contradict one sent out only hours before. After completing the above essay, word from the White House is that a new executive order is coming out which will change  the way Syrian refugees are treated. (I can only assume that someone leaked the content of this article and the president, unable to refute my facts, was forced to alter his policy.)

Dr. Hal Sobel

Great Neck

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