Demonstrators
sit inside the Los Angeles International Airport and yell slogans
during their protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
Source: Reuters/Ted Soqui
Trump’s immigration ban: I witnessed the chaos
By Zan Azlee
THE United States has always held a small place in my heart.
Yes, I am Malaysian and definitely proud of it but I spent a
good part of my early teenage years in New York and had some of my most
memorable growing-up experiences there.
So I do, every now and then, keep up to date with the news
and current affairs of the U.S. No offence to my American friends but I
found the last presidential election particularly disturbing, especially
the outcome.
In his first few days in the White House, President Donald
Trump signed a significant number of executive orders, some of which
appeared to be complete U-turns from his predecessor’s policies.
The most recent order was to suspend entry of all refugees
for 120 days; ban Syrian refugees indefinitely; and block entry for
citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Syria for 90
days.
This order took effect immediately and as I was travelling
to Los Angeles on Saturday to attend a workshop at the University of
South California, I witnessed the chaos, confusion and general fear
it caused at the airport and to U.S. Customs and Border Control
officers.
When I landed, the LA International Airport was filled with
families and friends of passengers, and from the look of bewilderment
on their faces, it was clear just how upset they were. Perhaps they were
there to reunite with family or with lovers, or maybe they wanted to
greet a visiting friend from one of the seven Muslim countries named in
Trump’s ban. But the order, signed and implemented quite suddenly, threw
these reunions into a state of uncertainty. Even the authorities meant
to carry out the order seemed confused about its limits.
Will green card holders be affected? What about those with
dual citizenship, one of which is with a Trump-banned nation? How many
security screenings will entrants be made to go through? Who approves
entry and what’s the criteria for approval? These were some of the
questions raised and few concrete answers were available.
So the indignation raised by those at the airport was entirely justified.
Imagine how you’d feel if you had boarded a plane to the
U.S. thinking your passage would end smoothly only to be denied entry
once you reached your destination or suddenly made to face additional
security checks by the authorities.
According to one Homeland Security official quoted in CNN,
green card holders returning to the U.S. would be granted re-entry,
provided they make it through additional screening and national security
checks upon landing. The official said unless they are found to have
significant criminal history or links to terrorism, they should be
allowed back into the country.
At the LA airport, I watched the chaos and thought to
myself: The backlash from Trump’s ban will be grim; apart from
triggering widespread protests, it could lead to the break-up of family
institutions.
It was, however, comforting to see how lawyers had turned
up to offer help to those affected by the order. They held up signs
identifying themselves – “Are you affected by the new immigration law? I
am an attorney and might be able to help.”
As a Malaysian, my entry was smooth sailing. But the emotional scene I witnessed was definitely jarring.
When my host greeted me, he immediately sighed when I
acknowledged the situation. He said he felt very ashamed by what was
happening and assured me that this was by no means a reflection of the
true spirit of the U.S. and its people – the country’s founding fathers
had been pro-immigration.
My host was not the only one who felt that way. According to reports, objections to Trump’s order were raised countrywide.
When I stepped out of the airport, I heard loud chants as
people gathered in protest. In fact, protests were organised and held
across the country from San Francisco to New York.
Some detractors sought legal redress in court. Reports said
several federal court judges from New York, Virginia, Massachusetts and
Washington issued emergency rulings against the order.
While these rulings do not mean a reversal of the order,
they prevent those denied entry from being deported. That means the
government cannot unceremoniously remove persons who arrived into the
country and were caught up in the chaos the order evoked.
But regardless of the protests, here’s what Trump has
essentially done: he has barred a whole region of the world from the
U.S. And that wasn’t all. He also said the U.S. would now prioritise
Christian refugees over the Muslims. This makes the order even more
disturbing as it clearly pits one religion again another, a dangerous
thing to do in a nation already divided by politics.
I get that Trump is just making good on all that he
promised during his presidential election campaign. So this is,
technically, the will of those who voted him in.
But what about the backlash, then? What about the will of
those who did not vote him in? What about the voices of the refugees
languishing somewhere in a nation riven by war and conflict? What about
their crushed hope and dream of starting a new life in a country often
referred to as the “land of the free”?
And if there were ethical and moral arguments for racial
profiling in the U.S. in the past, this new move by Trump is really
taking things to whole new level.
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