On Friday, Trump signed an immoral (and almost certainly illegal) executive order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” Section 1 states the purpose of this act:
The visa-issuance process plays a crucial role in detecting individuals with terrorist ties and stopping them from entering the United States. Perhaps in no instance was that more apparent than the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when State Department policy prevented consular officers from properly scrutinizing the visa applications of several of the 19 foreign nationals who went on to murder nearly 3,000 Americans.
While signing the executive order, Trump said, “We only want to admit those who will support our country and love deeply our people…We will never forget the lessons of 9/11, nor the heroes who lost their lives at the Pentagon.”
Sadly for Trump, actions speak louder than words, and in this case, his actions show that in fact, he has already forgotten an origin lesson from 9/11: while the order is expected to freeze travel from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen,1 the 9/11 hijackers came from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
None of those countries are expected to be subjected to Trump’s “extreme vetting measures.”
They are also the same Muslim-majority countries where Trump’s businesses either have interests or are pursuing them. Coincidental, I’m sure. Completely coincidental.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that Trump should extend his already-illegal, immoral, inhumane executive order to include Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. I am merely pointing out that the justification given for the ban is completely false – the seven countries banned are not responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, or any sort of massive terrorist export center. In fact, and again, as the FBI has been warning for years now, most terrorism in the United States is domestic terrorism, committed by Americans.
Yes, there is a terrorism threat in America – it’s coming from inside our borders, not out.
Edited at 8:55pm ET to add: Yes, I know that I included South Sudan in this image. At the time I made it, multiple news organizations were questioning whether they intended to ban South Sudan when discussing “Sudan.” The original list of seven – created by Obama – only included Sudan. But at least at 3am last night, when I was working on this map because I couldn’t sleep, multiple people thought Trump meant to include both Sudan and South Sudan, largely because he didn’t realize there WAS a South Sudan. As soon as anything official comes up, I’ll update accordingly.