Travel ban

I have to disagree with columnist Alison Mau regarding Trump’s travel ban. The seven banned countries were identified by the Obama regime as currently active in training and equipping terrorists.

Trump is fulfilling a specific campaign pledge and this is a temporary ban to deal with a perceived danger until such time as more permanent measures, such as ‘‘extreme vetting’’ can be put in place. To many people around the world and to the American people themselves (the majority of Americans appear to support this measure), Trump’s temporary ban makes a lot of sense. Scott Lelievre, Masterton I know Mau is a journalist’n all, dealing solely in facts, but when she talks of Trump her vision, or memory, seem to blur truth.

In disparaging the man she states ‘‘he talked about ‘illegal refugees’. Think about that nonsensical phrase for a moment. Once declared refugees, they are not illegal, by definition; under the 1951 Refugee Convention, they cannot be’’.

Thing is; he didn’t say that. The president used the term ‘‘illegal immigrants’’.

Illegal immigration is the migration of people across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country, and is exactly what those people held in detention by our neighbour, and referred to by Trump, have done. Ian Billing, Seatoun