DOES A PERSON IN SYRIA OR YEMEN HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO ENTER THE US?

DOES A PERSON IN SYRIA OR YEMEN HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO ENTER THE US?

Editorial

February 6, 2017

On Friday, US Federal Judge Robart in Seattle, Washington District Court ruled that real damage would be done to the people of Washington State if he did not freeze President Trump’s immigration/visa pause from seven nations deemed significant sources of terrorism by the Obama Administration following dozens of attacks in Europe and the US over the past 2 years in which hundreds of civilians were murdered by radical Muslims. Many of the attackers claimed allegiance to The Islamic State.

Robart sided with Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who filed a suit to block key provisions of the president’s executive order, which also bars Syrian refugees from entering the country. The order pauses the visa program for 120 days while the Trump administration reviews and reworks immigration screening procedures.

The fundamental question posed by the court order is; does someone sitting in Yemen have the right to enter the United States of America? Or does the US get to decide who enters and who doesn’t? Can our decision to allow people into the US be based on the foreigner’s political, racial, religious and national origin? Since we have to limit the number of people who enter the US annually, what should be the criteria of the people we do allow into the US? Should they be poor people without resources or marketable skills? Should they be people with religious back grounds who conflict with our own national history, our national identity, our national culture, our national interest and with democracy?

The answer is, that for the past 200 years the United States has picked and chose people to enter the US based on all of those factors. The US government banned Germans, Italians and Japanese from entering the US during World War II based solely on national origin. We limit the total number of immigrants allowed in annual, so we must pick and choose.

We also must screen people for national security reasons who may pose a threat to us here at home. But how does the US Customs or a US Embassy screen someone from a country like Syria whose government institutions are non existent and there is no way to vet their history for criminal and terror ties? The US opened its doors to Cuban Refugees in the 1970’s under Jimmy Carter and Castro emptied all his prisons and sent killers and rapists to Florida. Florida suffered a rash of murders and crime for years following the Mariel boatlift crisis, flooding Florida with 125,000 refugees.

 What is the purpose of immigration, to serve the immigrant’s interests and needs or to serve the interests of the people of the United States? The Democrats see poor immigrants as future voters dependant on welfare while many Republicans see them as a source of cheap labor. But those interests are in conflict with the interests of middle class Americans who don’t want to support poor immigrants on welfare nor do they want to compete with them for jobs. And many Americans view Muslim immigrants as a direct threat to our culture and national identity.

Politicians in many states like California and Nevada have actually raised taxes on businesses and middle class Americans to fund food stamps, welfare and english as a second language (ESL) classes and other benefits for immigrants.

President Trump ran on an agenda to rebuild and protect the middle class who have suffered over the past 20 years, loosing some 7 million manufacturing jobs while seeing the cost of living rise under press from foreign workers imported, in some cases, to replace them. While the media and the political class attack President Trump for merely pausing immigration for 120 days to review the vetting process from seven nations deemed significant sources of terrorism by President Obama and Congress, the American middle class have found their champion, an elected leader who is actually keeping his promise to defend their interests.

So the answer is obviously no, foreigners do not have a right to enter the US. But since when have liberals let the US Constitution stop them?

Rob Lauer

Political Reporter

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