What Do You Perceive As Being The Outcome Of Trump's Travel Ban?

This is certainly not my area of expertise but I will take a stab at it. First let’s take a look at a couple of historical concepts.

In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in Congress, which forbade the immigration of Chinese workers for ten years. Section Six of the Geary Act of 1892 required that Chinese obtain a certificate or face arrest or deportation even if there had been no other crimes committed. In the United States Supreme Court case of Fong Yue Ting v. United States it was maintained by the three Chinese who had not obtained certificates, that they had been denied due process. There were similar cases as well in which the United States Supreme Court typically upheld the Geary Act, the Supreme Court siding with the United States in that the immigration laws and their enforcement were reserved for the legislative and executive branches.

During World War II there was a fear that some Japanese Americans might try to spy, attempt to inflict casualties on American soil or sabotage the American war effort. Truly it was an extreme and a horrible time in American history to imprison one’s citizens.

It is true that some Japanese Americans returned to Japan and it is also true that there were Japanese American soldiers that fought as a part of our armies in the European theatre.

In Korematsu v Unites States, 1944 (United States Supreme Court) it was held that the protection from espionage outweighed the personal rights of Korematsu. This case has never been explicitly overturned though there have been later payments to survivors of the Japanese interment camps.

The second thing to consider is the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam (a territory), Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Keep in mind that our own 5th Circuit contains the states of Alabama, Georgia and Florida and is much smaller in territory and population. The west coast is in a large part known as being very liberal with many of these justices appointed by President Clinton.

The original ban reversal had come from the 4th Circuit in Maryland and focused the issue on the Establishment Clause of the Unites States Constitution maintaining that the Immigration order favored one religion over another (Islam) and was meant to keep Muslim’s out of the country. The 9th Circuit took a different approach maintaining that the President’s order went beyond the authority given him on immigration under the Federal law.

The government argues that the Order does not exceed the broad powers given the President. The new ban has removed Iraq from the list, only applies to those that do not have current visas from those six countries, dual citizens and U.S. citizens are not banned, green card holders from the six banned countries will still be allowed, Syrian refugees are not permanently banned, otherwise bans immigrants from the six countries, and minority religion refugees will not be given priority.

Terrorist attacks have jumped over 200% since 2013. Some of those opposed to the ban have correctly pointed out that attackers have come from those already living in the United States. However, one must realize that at some point that terrorist was a new immigrant whether or not they came here to eventually terrorize Americans.

It is a very tough issue and the question has to do with legislative and executive powers regarding immigration without Court interference, whether there is a real religious preference over Muslim immigrants and whether the threat of terrorism to our “way of life” is convincing when considering those that want to come within our borders. It is said that immigrants to European countries are more segregated and less assimilated into their new countries than in the United States. Many of the obvious immigrants I see or know are either those that are professionals (usually in the medical field) or entrepreneurs. There are other immigrants that I see in lower paying jobs but all seem to work very hard. It is difficult to determine which immigrant may want to harm my family, my friends or me. With what has happened in Europe and in the United States I have to ultimately count on a government that will place common sense and national security over the rights of foreign nationals until they have been properly vetted and it is the feeingl of those that process such foreign nationals that they have simply come here to contribute and have a better life.

This article is informative only and not meant to be all inclusive. Additionally this article does not serve as legal advice to the reader and does not constitute an attorney- client relationship. The reader should seek counsel from their attorney should any questions exist.

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Mailing address: Ronald A. Holtsford, Esq., Ronald A. Holtsford, LLC, 7956 Vaughn Road, Box #124, Montgomery, AL 36116 • (334) 220-3700 • raholtsford@aol.com