Last Friday Trump signed his most controversial Executive Order to date, suspending entry into the U.S. for all immigrants and non-immigrants (refugees included here) for a period of 90 days while what Trump claims is a newer, more effective vetting system is put into place that will better ensure the safety of the citizens of the United States. Prudent precaution? Hate-filled discrimination against those who need help the most? Somewhere in between? Let’s investigate.

 

 

Let me ask you something:

If you come home to find that a pipe burst and is flooding your kitchen, what’s the first thing you do? Ten points to anyone whose first thought was to turn off the water, because you can’t fix a pipe while water’s flowing out of it.

In case anyone missed the analogy coming from ten miles away, this is exactly what Trump is doing with his freeze [notice how I said freeze instead of ban] on immigrants and non-immigrants coming into the country. It’s just not practical to reform the vetting process for immigrants, refugees, tourists, or any other person wanting to come into the country while they are coming into the country.

Counterpoint #1:“But Craig!” you protest, “there has not been a single death from an act of terrorism on U.S. soil from any of the seven countries on Trump’s ban list!”

Response: Great Scott, you’re absolutely right, though not for lack of effort from the Ohio State stabber Abdul Razak Ali Artan. Somebody call up Trump and let him know that we will not stand for such a hateful and xenophobic position on refugees until someone from the “ban” list has killed at AT LEAST one U.S citizen in an act of terror. I mean, it’s not like ISIS is capable of utilizing the refugee crisis to sneak in opera-OH DEAR GOD THEY CAN AND THEY HAVE. In fact, Director of National Intelligence Eric Clapper himself said early last year that American-based extremists: “pose the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016.” Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, took it a step further and added that ISIS “will probably attempt to conduct additional attacks in Europe, and attempt to direct attacks on the US homeland in 2016.” So what’s it going to be, guys? Precautions or no precautions? I’m going to go with the former here.

Counterpoint #2: “This ban is unconstitutional since it’s illegal to discriminate against immigrants due to their religion. This Muslim ban is illegal!”

Response: First things first. This is not a Muslim ban. If this was specifically directed against Muslims, then Indonesia (209.1 million), Pakistan (176.2 million), India (167.4 million), and others would be included. Matter of fact, please reference the following sweet graphic breakdown of the Muslim population that this ban affects:

And don’t even get started on the ban having nothing to with places where Trump does business, unless you can send me a picture of Trump Tower in Islamabad, Pakistan. Second of all, it’s not unconstitutional. While it IS against against statutory law (8 U.S.C. Section 182 (f)) to deny entry into the U.S. to immigrants due to religious affiliation, it IS NOT unconstitutional (or is it against statutory law) to deny entry to non-immigrants, or in this case, refugees, for any reason whatsoever. Is it morally reprehensible? Absolutely. Good thing it only lasts for 90 days.

According to the EO, Various agencies including the FBI and DHS will be tasked with establishing a new, more comprehensive vetting process for immigrants and non-immigrants coming into the U.S. Trump will be receiving period reports at 30, 60, 90, and a final at 120 days to keep him up to date on the latest developments. So i hope this allays some of your fears that this is not an executive order rooted in hate like so many of the media outlets are informing you, especially since part of the order outlines how the U.S. will especially be vetting screening refugees and immigrants for hate and discrimination of the LGBT community, blacks, or women. I’m serious. Read it here. Section 1, paragraph 3, last sentence.

What can we learn? This is a theme that will no doubt be recurring throughout all the posts you see me craft here. It’s quite simple to follow, yet may take just a wee bit of effort. Read the original sources instead of listening to someone else’s opinion on it. Seriously. Don’t even come here until you’ve read or listened to the source, whether it be the full text of a new Executive Order, bill, or Press Update from big daddy Sean Spicer. Look, if you can’t take the advice from me, take it from Elon Musk. Everyone loves Elon Musk.

What it takes to change my mind: If this EO has to be extended past 90 days for no legitimate reason and both immigrants and non-immigrants from all 7 countries on the ban list are still not allowed in with no foreseeable path forward, then I see no choice but to say Trump dropped the ball on this one.