2/5/2017 AsbigotrybecomespolicyTheHindu

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EDITORIAL

As bigotry becomes policy

JANUARY 31, 2017 00:04 IST
UPDATED: JANUARY 30, 2017 22:08 IST

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A merican President Donald Trump implemented his campaign promise

of extreme vetting on Friday when he announced that his
administration had banned, for 90 days via executive order, travellers from
seven Muslim-majority nations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and
Yemen. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan were not on the list, perhaps owing to
the close economic and strategic ties that Washington, and indeed the Trump
Organization, have with some of these nations although White House Chief
of Staff Reince Priebus indicated that Pakistan may be put on the list, going
forward. Mr. Trump has placed on hold indefinitely the U.S.s asylum
programme for refugees from Syria, and suspended entry of all refugees to the
U.S. for 120 days. While he may have enthused his core constituency of
predominantly white, blue-collar workers, beset with economic and racial

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2/5/2017 AsbigotrybecomespolicyTheHindu

insecurities, his order sent shock waves at home and abroad, and sparked fears
that it could create a recruitment bonanza for terrorists. Leading the liberal
counterattack, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Mr. Trumps
order represented constitutional and legal overreach. In response, a federal
judge in New York ruled that sending back the travellers detained in airports
may cause them irreparable harm, and that the government was enjoined and
restrained from, in any manner and by any means, removing individuals with
valid papers. Similar rulings came in Virginia, Massachusetts and Washington
State.

Mr. Trumps shock therapy for controlling immigration begs the question
whether the order is constitutional. In 1965, Congress had deliberately
circumscribed presidential power in this regard by stating that no one could be
discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the
persons race, sex, nationality, place of birth... The order will probably have a
wider fallout in the economic sphere already Silicon Valley firms have
scrambled to bring back their staff deployed in affected countries, and CEOs
including Googles Sundar Pichai, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg and Microsofts
Satya Nadella, have expressed concern that the ban will affect their talent pools.
More broadly, Mr. Trumps order has done irreparable damage to Americas
reputation as a melting pot of immigrants, a beacon for bright minds and a
humane force against authoritarian excess abroad. No major attack has taken
place on U.S. soil in the past eight years. Ultimately, Mr. Trumps insistence on
preferential treatment for Christian refugees makes a bogeyman of Muslims, a
retrograde action that will exacerbate anti-Americanism worldwide.

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