Trump's Immigration Ban Is a Perfect Storm of Wrongs

Life is often a minefield of quandaries. Fidelity to principle is pitted against the needs of the moment. Legal and procedural correctness clash with spiritual concerns. It is rare for these various gauges of right and wrong to output the same reading, but President Trump’s executive order on immigration is that unicorn of error, wrong in just about every way imaginable.

Legally Wrong

Trump’s order suspends immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the U.S. by citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days and entry by Syrian refugees indefinitely. As Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Cato Institute analyst David Bier have noted, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the old quota system, effectively banned discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin. Trump’s order is therefore illegal.

Logically Wrong

The order’s defenders have likened Trump’s ban to the Obama administration’s delay in issuing visas to Iraqi nationals in 2011. This is, of course, a fallacious comparison. Obama’s State Department slowed down processing in response to a concern that two individuals were improperly screened. At no time was a ban enacted.

However, a faulty analogy is hardly the only logical sin committed. In instituting the immigration ban, Trump gave his rationale as “protect[ing] American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States.” Yet as per a Wall Street Journal study, of the 180 people charged or implicated in jihadist terror plots since 2001, only 11 hailed from the seven countries affected by the ban. In other words, the solution is largely unrelated to the problem it portends to solve. We English professors – and, almost anyone who’s taken a freshman composition course, really – have a term for this kind of dissociative nonsense: non-sequitur. It does not follow.

Ethically Wrong

Interestingly, the immigration ban omits countries whose nationals have been implicated in terror plots but who are partner to some of Trump’s business ventures. Trump as ethically conflicted is old hat, nor is he unique among politicians in that regard. But Trump prioritizing his self-interest at the possible (albeit by no means certain) expense of national security while simultaneously claiming to champion it is, at least until the next atrocity manifests itself, a new low.

Morally Wrong

The callousness of turning away those seeking refuge from war and conflict (despite the existence of a rigorous vetting system) speaks for itself. However, beyond merely shutting the door on Syrian refugees and freezing the issuance of new visas from the aforementioned countries going forward, Trump’s order also affects existing visa and green card holders. By revoking previously granted permission to enter, Trump has, improbably, turned the U.S. government into more of a liar than it already is.

Beyond that, the order has had the deleterious effects of separating children from parents, betraying Iraqis who assisted U.S. armed forces, and endangering the safety of foreign nationals who defied their governments by championing democratic values.

As America’s character has long been shaped by the contributions of immigrants, Trump’s order is at odds with the country’s civic values. It also violates the moral values (of compassion, of kindness to strangers) of the faith that Trump and many Americans – including many of his supporters – claim to practice.

Politically Wrong

Even by that most disfavored of measures – political expediency – Trump’s order is a false move. While it has had the short-term effect of appeasing the nativist element within Trump’s base, it risks shrinking that base. Moreover, it may prompt more Republicans who see themselves as vulnerable in 2018 congressional elections to distance themselves from the president as some already have. Lastly, it leaves those Republicans who have not spoken out (on legal and procedural grounds if nothing else) with no leg to stand on should future Democratic presidents roll out broad, sweeping executive orders of their own.

Despite a long history of abuses in its name, national security rightfully remains a priority that any president should take seriously. But Trump’s executive order – illegal, illogical, impractical, and immoral – is about as far from an ideal solution as one can conceive of.