Trump’s ban 2.0

US President Donald Trump just can’t stop making America ‘great’ again. Despite stiff resistance and eventual defeat over his first attempt to ban entry of citizens from seven Muslim countries, the businessman-turned-politician signed a new executive order now placing a 90-day ban on people from six Muslim nations. The new order is different from the old one in the sense that it removed Iraq from the list after additional visa vetting measures were agreed upon. It also does not give priority to religious minorities as granted in the previous order. Furthermore, the ban will not be imposed on Green Card holders from the six named countries. Another controversial clause of the first executive order — singling out Syrian refugees — has also been removed from the new decree.

The problem with the new order is same: it discriminates on the basis of religion and nationality; it is as xenophobic and Islamophobic as the previous order. It is senseless because no national of the six banned countries was involved in recent high-profile terror attacks in the US. And it is unconstitutional as it violates the American laws when taken in the context of Trump’s election promises as well as his statements around the time he signed the first order. Just like the last time, civil rights organisations and a few state governments are already gearing to challenge the order in court. Along with street protests, the legal resistance will put up a fight against Trump’s latest move and if everything goes by the book, it is very likely the new travel ban will be put on hold even before it is implemented.

But, while the liberals may win this legal battle, American people and their representatives in power must realise the damage done to Muslims and Islam in the US by Trump’s shenanigans. Hate speech is already rampant and race-based violence is also increasing by the day. The world has tread this path of racism and hatred before and the US does not need to do it again to know where it goes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2017.

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