Immigrants already get extreme vetting

Re: “Trump has good reason for immigration restriction,” “U.S. immigration ban is only temporary,” letters, Feb. 4. Regarding the first letter: The seven countries that are identical to those named by former president Barack Obama last year have never exported anyone who instigated or took part in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Those states appeared on Obama’s list as countries not recommended as destinations for American travellers.

Applications for visas emanating from these countries already undergo “extreme vetting” that can take several years for approval. On the other hand, the men responsible for the 9/11 disaster travelled from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Why are those three are not on this list. Oil? Trump investments?

Regarding the second letter: As stated above, there has been especially severe investigation into visa applications from Middle Eastern countries for many years that has proven successful. Emigration did not have to be suspended to investigate the current methodology.

Almost every act of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11 has been of the homegrown variety, the result of disenchantment with the system that President Donald Trump promised to change.

Nominating millionaires and billionaires to his cabinet, the promise of tax breaks to the wealthy and the systematic disassembly of the social advances made by the previous administration such as the Affordable Care Act hardly contribute to that promise. Dave Fowler Victoria