Texas should not support Trump’s travel ban

Opinions – The University Star Illustration by: Flor Barajas | Staff Illustrator







By Rachael Shah 
Texas has become the first state to show support toward President Trump’s travel ban and it is extremely disheartening that our home state would partake in such blatant Islamophobia.
For those of you who have not been paying attention, Trump decided to halt travel and immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen face a 90-day visa suspension. There is also an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.
“This is not about religion. This is about terror and keeping our country safe,” President Donald Trump said via Facebook.
As much as I would love to believe Trump’s ban is not a demeaning and derogatory course of action, I cannot be so naïve.
If you look at the most recent terror attacks in the United States, many were carried out by U.S. nationals or citizens from countries not included in the ban.
According to BBC.com, the following were responsible for recent terrorist attacks:
Knowing this information, I am confused as to why Trump decided to ban countries that have posed little to no threat to the United States. If Trump truly wanted to protect the American people, wouldn’t he at the very least include countries where terrorists have stemmed from?
Trump cited 9/11 as one of the events to inspire the travel ban. However, this claim makes no sense.
According BBC, “none of the 19 hijackers who committed the attacks came from countries included in the suspension. They were from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon.”
It is astounding Trump did not include those countries in the ban. It is also extremely unsettling Trump has business ties in the countries where the hijackers responsible for 9/11 stemmed from.
America’s safety is important, but banning countries that ...


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