President Donald Trump tried to fulfill one of his key campaign pledges — to tighten the nation’s borders against illegal immigrants and potential terrorists — with the stroke of a pen. Rather than increasing security, Trump’s rash move has sown chaos, punished innocent travelers and turned a cold heart to suffering refugees.
In short, he has shamed a nation that has for nearly 2 ½ centuries served as a beacon of freedom, reason and welcome — a message enshrined in the words of poet Emma Lazarus engraved on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free …”
The executive order signed late Friday banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — from entering the United States for 90 days. Travelers to America from those countries were detained at airports, leaving families walled off from their loved ones, and universities and colleges wondering if students and scholars traveling abroad could return.
The order drew condemnation from other governments, academic institutions, business leaders and politicians — including Republicans — here and abroad. In short, the farthest-reaching act of Trump’s first week in office raised questions about how long he can survive as a president determined to govern by impulse.
As the weekend unfolded, another branch of government stepped in and citizens rose up. Federal judges in New York, Boston, Seattle, California and Virginia issued orders blocking immediate deportations of people arriving at U.S. airports. Protesters mobilized, particularly at airports, but also at places like the Amherst Town Common.
Among the politicians who issued statements denouncing Trump’s order was Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. “Massachusetts is a global community,” Baker said. “Our education, health care, business and public sector institutions rely on these relations to deliver on their missions every single day. The federal government’s recent decision puts this at risk and I believe focusing on countries’ predominant religions will not make the country safer as terrorists have showed they intend to strike from across the world.”
College administrators scrambled to reassure students from the affected nations that they are safe on U.S. campuses, while advising them not to travel abroad during the ban. Smith College President Kathleen McCartney told students from those countries that the college would make arrangements for any who want to remain here over the summer.
Trump also ordered a four-month suspension of the U.S. refugee program, as well as an indefinite ban on refugees from war-torn Syria. That will have an immediate impact on the plan by the Catholic Charities Agency in Springfield to resettle 51 refugees in Northampton beginning this month. The 18 refugees who were to have been in the first group resettled here are not yet in the U.S. and are subject to Trump’s ban, said Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, executive director of Catholic Charities in Springfield.
“It’s one thing to expect something,” Buckley-Brawner said. “It’s another to actually see it in writing and know that it has been signed. It was profoundly disappointing, extremely shocking to know that we would, as a country, do something that is so devoid of compassion.”
Among the incongruities in Trump’s order is extending the ban to Iraq — an ally of the United States, including in its battle against ISIS — but not Saudi Arabia, where most of the Sept. 11 terrorists came from (and where Trump’s family business has investments).
Among the uncertainties was confusion among government officials and agencies charged with enforcing the president’s order, particularly about how it would be applied to certain groups. Some questions remained unanswered even after officials tried to clarify the policy. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement Sunday saying that citizens of the seven affected countries with permanent residency “green cards” would not be stopped from re-entering the U.S., as officials had previously said, though they could face additional screening.
We agree with politicians from both sides of the aisle calling for rescinding or revising Trump’s order. Among them are Democratic Congressman James McGovern, of Worcester, who said Saturday, “A policy that stigmatizes and isolates Americans of any faith makes us weaker, not stronger. We are better than this and I urge Republicans in Congress to join Americans across the country in rejecting this hate-driven policy and call on President Trump to immediately rescind this executive order.”
At stake: nothing less than America’s standing in the world as a beacon of liberty.