Trump Muslim Ban Made Possible By Obama Admin & Media Won't Tell You
Donald Trump’s recent ban on immigration from Muslim countries creates backlash.
Jimmy Dore breaks it down.
OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION MADE THE “MUSLIM BAN” POSSIBLE AND THE MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU
By
SETH J. FRANTZMAN
I
was outraged by the ban on refugees from war-torn countries in the
Middle East. I’ve covered refugees fleeing war in Iraq and Syria
over the last two years, meeting families on the road in Greece,
Serbia and Macedonia, speaking to poor people in Turkey and Jordan
and discussing the hopes and fears of people displaced in Iraq. If
you want to ban “terrorists,” these are the last people to hit
with a refugee ban. Instead the government should be using the best
intelligence possible to find people being radicalized, some of whom
have lived in the US their whole lives or who come from countries not
affected by the ban, such as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
So
I was outraged, and then I read the executive order. There are many
full texts of the order online, such as at CNN, the NYT, the WSJ or
Independent. According to most reports Trump was banning “nationals
of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States
for at least the next 90 days.” This bars people from Iraq, Syria,
Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. US Senator Elizabeth Warren
said “Let’s be clear: A Muslim ban by any other name is still a
Muslim ban,” and Senator Chris Murphy claimed “Trump has now
handed ISIS a path to rebirth.” Media, such as Vox and the
Independent, compared the ban to banning Jews from entry during the
Holocaust and bashed Trump for singing the order on Holocaust
memorial day. World leaders are “condemning Trump’s Muslim ban,”
according to headlines.
I
had to see for myself, so I read the executive order. The order does
seek “to protect the American people from terrorist attacks by
foreign nationals admitted to the United States.” It says that it
seeks “Suspension of Issuance of Visas and Other Immigration
Benefits to Nationals of Countries of Particular Concern.” It also
says “I hereby proclaim that the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry
into the United States of aliens from countries referred to in
section 217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), would be
detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby
suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and
nonimmigrants, of such persons for 90 days from the date of this
order.” And it targets Syrians specifically. “I hereby proclaim
that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to
the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry
until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have
been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is
consistent with the national interest.”
But,
wait a sec. According to the reports “The order bars all people
hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.”
Critics had attacked Trump for selecting these seven countries and
not selecting other states “linked to his sprawling business
empire.” Bloomberg and Forbes bought into this.
But,
wait a sec. I read the order and Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan
and Yemen are not mentioned in it.
Go
back and read it again. Do a “ctrl-f” to find “Iraq”. Where
is “Iraq” in the order. It’s not there. Only Syria is there. So
where are the seven nations? Where is the “Muslim ban”? It turns
out this was a form of fake news, or alternative facts. Trump didn’t
select seven “Muslim-majority” countries. US President Barack
Obama’s administration selected these seven Muslim-majority
countries.
The
Department of Homeland Security targeted these seven countries over
the last years as countries of concern. In February 2016 “The
Department of Homeland Security today announced that it is continuing
its implementation of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and
Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 with the addition of Libya,
Somalia, and Yemen as three countries of concern, limiting Visa
Waiver Program travel for certain individuals who have traveled to
these countries.” It noted “the three additional countries
designated today join Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria as countries
subject to restrictions for Visa Waiver Program travel for certain
individuals.” It was the US policy under Obama to restrict and
target people “who have been present in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan,
at any time on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited
government/military exceptions).” This was text of the US Customs
and Border Protection in 2015 relating to “the Visa Waiver Program
and Terrorist Travel Protection Act of 2015“. The link even
includes the seven nation list in it: “Iraq, Syria, Iran, SUdan,
Somalia or Yemen.” And the media knew this back in May 2016 when
some civil rights groups complained about it. “These restrictions
have provoked an outcry from the Iranian-American community, as well
as Arab-American and civil-liberties groups, who say the restrictions
on dual nationals and certain travelers are discriminatory and could
be imposed against American dual nationals.”
It
was signed into law on December 18, 2015, as part of the Omnibus
Appropriations Act of FY2016.
The
Congress and Homeland Security selected these countries in 2016 and
before (Screenshot of visa waiver categories, US Customs and Border
Protection)
What?
So there was a Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 two years
before Trump? There was a kind of “Muslim ban” before the Muslim
ban? But almost no one critiqued it in 2015 because it was Obama’s
administration overseeing it.
So
for more than a year it has been US policy to discriminate against,
target and even begin to ban people from the seven countries that
Trump is accused of banning immigrants and visitors from. CNN even
hinted at this by noting “those countries were named in a 2016 law
concerning immigration visas as ‘countries of concern.'” But why
didn’t CNN note that the seven countries were not named and that in
fact they are only on the list because of Obama’s policy?
The
“ban” didn’t exclude countries linked to business interests, it
targeted countries of “concern” drawn up last year by Obama’s
administration and Congress
Because
mainstream media has been purposely lying, either due to ignorance or
because of unwillingness to read the document and ask questions and
because they are too ready to accept “facts” without
investigating. They want to blame Trump for a “Muslim ban”
because they were ready with that script since last year. And indeed
Trump has enacted a harsh executive order cracking down on visitors
from these countries (particularly Syrians), but his crackdown only
includes those seven countries because of Obama’s policy. Trump’s
decision to go beyond the policy and increase the Obama policy harms
refugees, but it only increases an existing discriminatory policy, it
doesn’t invent it. Reading media reports you would never know that.
Most disingenuous, truly bordering on fake news, are the reports
that claimed the seven countries were connected to Trump business
interests, as if Obama’s DHS picked them because of Trump?
So
why didn’t anyone of the thousands of reporters covering this read
the same document and ask the same question and do the same
investigation of where the seven “countries of concern” came
from? A simply Google search would have revealed the history. A bit
of searching around US code would have explained it.
Were
reports misleading on Trump “Muslim ban”?
The
public should be suspicious of Trump’s policies and the media
should speak truth to power and demand answers from the
administration. But the media should also be truthful with the public
and instead of claiming Trump singled out seven countries, it should
note that the US Congress and Obama’s Department of Homeland
Security had singled out these countries. It should have told us
about theTerrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 rather than pretend
this list was invented in 2017. Trump’s executive order said
“countries of concern,” it didn’t make a list. That list was
already made, last year and years before.
Tags:
217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), alternative facts,
attacks by foreign national, Bloomberg, Countries of concern, Donald
Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Warren and Muslim ban, Fake news,
Fakenews, Forbes, Holocaust memorial Day and Trump, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi
refugees, Libya, Lies, Lies about rump, linked to his sprawling
business empire, Media lies, Muslim, Muslim ban, Muslimban,
Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United
States, Seth Frantzman, Seth J Frantzman, Seven nations banned,
Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, Syria, Syria refugees, Terrorist Travel
Prevention Act of 2015, Trump, Trump executive order, Visa Waiver
program
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