Donald Trump’s executive action to bar all Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans, Somalis, Sudanese and Yemeni should give Congress pause. The original public statement about this order from the White House was that it was to prevent refugees from these countries from traveling to the US. However, as events have shown, airport authorities have interpreted their orders to mean stopping anyone born in those countries from entering the US. This includes permanent residents as well as Naturalized American citizens.
In fact, naturalized citizens have the exact same rights as all other American citizens. The single exception is that they cannot run for President of the United States (remember Arnold?).
Did Trump mean to extend the ban to American citizens? Does it matter whether this was his intention?
One clue as to whether Trump intended his order to be interpreted as such is that he already stated that he would give preference refugees that are Christians over those that are Muslim.
Therefore, it is a safe bet that yes, Trump did want to exclude holders of US passports.
What does this mean to Congress? Well, it means that someone like Melania Trump is a second class citizen. Why? Well, she was not born in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 2001. This means that Trump has changed US law. Congress should sit up and pay attention.
What does this have to do with Syrian refugees? Well, if a Syrian became a US citizen in 2001 (like Melania), and if that Syrian were to travel outside the United States, the new rule means that they will be barred from re-entering; this is what is happening in US airports.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, states that no one may discriminate on the basis of national origin. But discrimination by national origin is exactly what is happening to naturalized Americans born in any of the seven countries in Trump’s blacklist.
Bear in mind that whatever one thinks of her, Melania Trump had to swear allegiance to the United States to become a US citizen. However, given that Syrians and others can be treated as second-class citizens, there is every reason to believe that she, along with all other Naturalized US citizens, has fewer rights and recourses now.
All of this raises the question: is Donald Trump a xenophobe? Well, he claimed that he only wanted people in this country that were either born here, or had come to the country legally. Anyone that came into the country legally was welcomed, Trump claimed. But barring legal, American citizens from entering the country for no reason other than because Trump is afraid of them is not a legal basis for excluding anyone.
For that matter, of the nineteen hijackers on September 11, fifteen were from Saudi Arabia. If Trump cared about countries that exported people that have carried out attacks on US soil, he should bar Saudis from entering the country. But he won’t because he has business deals in Saudi Arabia.
When even frickin’ Dick Cheney thinks the ban is extreme, you know you’ve gone too far.