How Far Will We Let the Government Go In the Name of Security
President Trump’s executive order banning anyone from one of 7 predominantly Muslim countries from the US is the big story across the board today. When signed last week, it wasn’t clear how this would work in practice with people who hold green cards, student visas, etc., but it seems that it’s currently being interpreted as a blanket ban on all travelers, citizens, refugees, and green card holders from those countries.
“The order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration of the nuances of immigration policy that can be life or death for many people” — Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.)
Rush job, no doubt, but Trump’s argument will be that you can’t be too careful in the name of national security. He’ll say that we’ve gotten markedly less secure in the past 8 years, and he’ll say that we know these countries breed terrorists.
The question now is how far will we let him go?
We’ve stood complacently by as many of our civil liberties as citizens have been taken in the name of freeing us from terror, but will we let him harm refugees? Will we let him hurt our own education system by banning qualified students based on their family’s religion or country of origin? Will we allow him to effectively ban Muslims? Hispanics? Chinese? Where would you draw the line?
