Tag: Syrian refugees

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Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Syrian Refugees Indefinitely

President Trump signed on Friday an executive order which bans citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East from entering the United States for 90 days, and puts in place an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.

From the New York Times:

The executive order suspends the entry of refugees into the United States for 120 days and directs officials to determine additional screening ”to ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.”

The order also stops the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and bars entry into the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism. Those countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Announcing his “extreme vetting” plan, the president invoked the specter of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most of the 19 hijackers on the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa., were from Saudi Arabia. The rest were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon. None of those countries are on Mr. Trump’s visa ban list.

Human rights activists roundly condemned Mr. Trump’s actions, describing them as officially sanctioned religious persecution dressed up to look like an effort to make the United States safer.

Just to recap:

Banned by Trump’s executive order: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia & Yemen

Hijackers on 9/11 were from: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE & Lebanon

So, while Trump invokes the history of 9/11, we aren’t banning folks from the countries our attackers came from…?

Hint: Bloomberg News notes that Donald Trump has business dealings in several of the non-banned countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE.

Remind me again how Trump doesn’t have conflicts of interest.

It’s worth noting that a study of terrorist attacks on US soil between 1975 and 2015 conducted by the conservative-leaning Cato Institute concluded foreign nationals from the seven countries listed in the president’s executive order have killed zero Americans.

According to Reuters, even folks who have been granted “green cards,” making them permanent legal U.S. residents, will be affected by the ban if they are originally from one of the seven countries listed. If currently traveling outside the U.S., those folks from the banned countries – even with green cards – will not be able to get back home now.

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Donald Trump Jr. Likens Syrian Refugees To Skittles

Above image posted tonight by Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr.

A man born in the most fortunate of situations dehumanizing others.

Ignoring the lack of correct punctuation (the Trumps can’t afford good schools, it seem), please note how he compares human lives to candy.

I can see the new campaign slogan now: “Skittles. Deport the rainbow.”

Last week, a holocaust joke. This week, poisoned candy.

To be clear, here’s one of those”Syrian refugee problems.” What Does Junior think should happen to this guy?

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Libertarian Gary Johnson – “What Is Aleppo?”

During an appearance by Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning, Mike Barnicle Johnson asked Johnson his thoughts on Aleppo, and Johnson seemed stumped by the question:

Johnson: “What is Aleppo?”

Barnicle: “You’re kidding.”

Johnson: “No.”

Barnicle: “Aleppo is in Syria. It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.”

Host Joe Scarborough couldn’t resist commenting:

“You asked, ‘What is Aleppo?’ Do you really think that foreign policy is so insignificant that somebody running for president of the United States shouldn’t even know what Aleppo is, where Aleppo is, why Aleppo is so important?”

Johnson’s campaign released a statement on the gaffe which read:

“Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day. But hit with “What about Aleppo?”, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign,” Johnson said in the statement. “Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.”

Watch the rather cringe-worthy moment below.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Welcomes First Of Syrian Refugees

As Donald Trump continues to stoke fears regarding refugees from Syria here in the U.S., the Prime Minister of Canada welcomed the first of 25,000 displaced Syrians to his country.

From BBC News:

The first military plane carrying Syrian refugees to be resettled in Canada has arrived in the country.

Welcoming the 163 refugees, new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was “showing the world how to open our hearts.”

The newly elected Liberal government has pledged to take in 25,000 refugees by the end of February.

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Sarah Palin Gets Schooled On Refugee Vetting Process

Sarah Palin, former half-term governor of Alaska, dropped by Late Night with Seth Meyers to push her new book and along the way the issue of Syrian refugees came up.

Palin told Meyers and audience that the reason governors across the U.S. are saying “no” to any refugees is because there’s not a vetting process to determine if they are “bad guys infiltrating under the guise of refugee.”

Without blinking or referring to any cue cards, Meyers calmly described the very real vetting process that takes between 18-24 months before refugees are allowed into the country.

Via Yahoo:

“In order for any refugees to come in, it is like an 18- to 24-month process for them to get through,” Meyers said. “It starts at the U.N., and then it comes through multiple government agencies here in the States. Is it maybe just that, at the core, I think there’s just a lack of trust across the board of the federal government? Do you think that’s what these governors are really saying, that ultimately anything the federal government tells them, they don’t trust?”

“Well, I don’t trust what the federal government is telling us,” Palin — who is out promoting her new book, “Sweet Freedom” — replied. “But even you should not trust that the federal government is telling you about the 18- to 24-month vetting process is as legit as perhaps they’re trying to make the public believe, because truly, there is no way to filter out those that would want to do this country harm with the process that we see in place today. And that’s why it’s not just Republican governors but Democrats too who are saying, ‘Wait a minute. Somebody’s got to be the last line of defense here, so the states are taking on that authority.’”

Meyers went on to ask of we can ever truly get to a place where everyone feels absolute safety about vetting all refugees, and Palin quickly did a u-turn agreeing with him.

“If we were to strive to reach absolute safety, we would not have freedom,” Palin said. “If people have the choice here — I mean, we can have both, but we’re all about freedom. That’s a foundation of our country, so we’re not going to give up freedom for that.”

Meyers also addressed the cynicism of assuming all refugees only want to come here to attack us, and that he believed people want to come to the U.S. because they seek the freedoms we all have.

Freedom, Meyers said, is why the refugees “are so desperate to come here.”

“I think this idea that they’re coming here to infiltrate — I think that is fear-based,” he said. “I do think they want to come here and enjoy the same things you and I are lucky enough to enjoy.”

Palin, again, u-turns and agrees with Meyers.

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UPDATED: Donald Trump Favors Implementing Database To Track American Muslims

Yesterday, in an interview with Yahoo News, Donald Trump said he favors increased surveillance of American Muslims, forcing them to carry special I.D. cards, and implementing a database that would track those citizens.

“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said. “And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”

Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out.

“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

UPDATE: Now, Trump says he never endorsed use of a Muslim-tracking database. Except, he did. Check the video above at the :20 mark – “Oh, I would certainly implement that.”

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House Votes 289-137 To Hit “Pause” On Syrian Refugees Coming Into U.S.

Last night, the House voted 289-137 to pass a bill that would effectively stop a program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until those refugees are “certified” by national security agencies that they don’t pose any security risk.

The vote was 289-137, with 47 Democrats joining 242 Republicans in favor of the bill, creating a majority that could override President Barack Obama’s promised veto.

It’s not sure if the bill will pass in the Senate; and if it does, would it have a similar veto-proof margin?

The current vetting process for refugees takes from 18 – 24 months, and includes several steps involving the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

If the past proves as any kind of prelude, of the refugees who have come to the US from Syria so far, 50% are children, 25% are over the age of 60, and 2% are “combat age” males who emigrated without family members, according to Business Insider.

The Hill reports that, of those, none have been found to have committed any terrorist attacks in the US.

According to Lavinia Limon, of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, refugees already undergo the most intensive security screening process of any people allowed to enter the U.S.

“The average processing time is two years.” Limon added that the program purposely focuses on those who are the least likely to engage in terrorism.

“[T]he program emphasizes admitting the most vulnerable refugees including widows with children, the elderly, and infirm who are unlikely to pose a threat,” she said in a statement emailed to ThinkProgress.

“We can be pretty confident about the screening that’s in place,” Newland said, and added that those who are taking jabs at it haven’t done their homework. “It seems to me that it’s a political gesture rather than anything based on real evidence that would be cause for concern.”