Trump’s Muslim ban
US President Donald Trump has not spent a complete month in office but has already made very far reaching and controversial decisions, mainly using the Executive Order. The most controversial of his orders so far has been the “Muslim Ban,” an order that forbids the entry of citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries into the United States. He also stopped Syrian refugees from entering the US. The order, which fulfilled one of Trump’s notorious campaign promises, elicited protests from many of his compatriots and some of them expressed their frustration by going to airports to give support to embattled Muslim travelers.
The American justice system soon applied the brakes on the ban, however temporarily. The then Acting Attorney General of the United States Ms Sally Yates refused to defend the order in court and President Trump summarily fired her. Soon after, the executive order suffered a major setback when a Federal Appeals Court backed the ruling of lower courts in Washington and Minnesota States and upheld a temporary stop to the order. Trump responded to the first court order by attacking the judge in a tweet: “The opinion of the so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”
The president’s lawyers are still in court asking the judges to allow the ban. Mr. Trump himself has mentioned that he’s ready to go to the Supreme Court to enforce the order. World leaders have also disagreed with Trump; German chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, said what he did was against the Geneva Convention. Trump’s executive order has been described as vague; while he wants more strictures in the already rigorous refugee program, which requires 18 months to two years to complete, he didn’t say exactly how.
Yet, there are three clear components in the order. One, it suspended the entire U.S. refugee admission system for four months. Two, it suspended Syrian refugee program indefinitely. Three, it banned entry from seven countries for 90 days. The seven countries, namely Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen have majority Muslim populations, which is why it was immediately called the Muslim Ban.
The United States took in over 12,000 refugees from Syria in 2016. This may look like a huge number but compare that with Germany which accepted 300,000 within the same year and Turkey which received 2.7 million Syrian refugees since the war began. Jordan has taken in one million refugees while Lebanon accepted 650,000, according to the United Nations. Even though Trump is yet to train his guns on Nigeria, it may not be long before he does so. The new American president is quite unpredictable and has tangled with both friends and foes.
His telephone chat with the Australian prime minister, for example, ended in a shouting match. Australia is a military ally of the United States Trump was not happy that President Obama accepted to take in refugees from Australia. He called it “a dumb deal.” He has already started work on his notorious campaign promise to build a wall between the US and Mexico and his administration has put Iran “officially on notice” for testing a missile system.
Though analysts are still scratching their heads on the meaning of being put on notice, Trump has shown enough resolve that while others laugh and make jokes at his irregular ways, he has come to do business - however unpleasant it is. Nigeria should also note that three of the seven countries affected by the Muslim ban are in Africa. It might not be long before the list is lengthened, as Trump has already promised a review. It is not the end of the world if people are not allowed into the United States but our foreign relations officials must have working plans for any eventualities coming out of Washington, DC these days.