By Howard Foster -
There are about six million Muslims in the U.S. and they constitute an extremely disproportionate number of our domestic terrorists. But this fact is disturbing to most Americans. The logical conclusion is that we should take a pause and stop Muslim immigration while we try to make sense of it.
No other western democracy has closed its doors to Muslims. We would be the first to do so if we took this step. It would infuriate a portion of the country, though I believe something like 80% would welcome a temporary ban on Muslim immigration and tourist visas. (Muslims who are already U.S. citizens would, of course, be exempt from the ban.)
After each terrorist act, we are told two things by the government: Islam is a peaceful religion, and we should not allow these few people to cause us to rethink our commitment to open borders. Regardless of whether the first premise is correct, the second one is plainly wrong. Open borders (immigration without regard to religion) simply does not make sense unless we can see into the soul of the immigrants.
Mrs. Tashfeen Farook, who is pictured above in a photo taken when she entered the country, depicts a typical Muslim woman wearing a head scarf. She was “vetted” by D.H.S. before being granted her marriage visa. But the vetters failed to contact people who knew her in her formative years in Saudi Arabia where she became a militant Sunni and overlooked her enrollment at a conservative Muslim school in her native Pakistan.
After 9/11 the U.S. essentially stopped Muslim immigration for a few years. No ban was formally announced, but the government finally got serious about the threat we faced. The Bush administration continued to proclaim its open border pieties but did not practice them. At the very least, we should return to that unspoken policy of treating all Muslims as would- be terrorists. If someone could find a way of actually vetting people so as to find out of they have ever associated with Muslim fundamentalists, either in person or online, this would not be necessary. But we are unable to do it.
I’ve read that Syrian refugees will be subjected to two years of scrutiny before being admitted to the U.S. My first reaction is where will they live for those two years? Why can’t they just stay there until the civil war in their country ends? And my second reaction is how do we possibly “vet” a person from Syria when we are in a defacto state of war with that country? It will not share its files on its citizens with us, and even if it did, would we trust them?
Donald Trump has ham-fistedly made this proposal, as everyone knows by now. The other candidates are lining up to denounce him. Apparently they would rather go to war with ISIS and allow about 100,000 Muslims to continue to enter the country each year.
Can anyone really deny the fact that If we banned Muslims from entering the country it’s very difficult to see how ISIS could be an existential threat to the U.S? Sure, there are homegrown radical Muslims like Mr. Farook (born in Chicago) and the Ft. Hood shooter. But people like that should already be on watch lists.
If we are really at war with ISIS, then the case for banning Muslim immigration is as easy to make as it was during World War II when we closed our doors to German and Japanese immigrants.
Howard Foster is an immigration attorney based in Chicago.
Since Timothy McVeigh was a crhistian.. I say we should block all christians coming into to country till we know better.
This is so so unamerican you are lost.
Getting ready to come to America! Oh, how the churches and social service agencies will party for days knowing that they are using these invaders to destroy our Republic. The ministers and priests want to show how much they love and admire Africans/Mideasterners who bring diversity to our shores…who just want jobs Americans don’t want!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jg8EeL7zD8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiPR0zdPU0I
I’ve not seen a declaration of war on ISIS. An “authorization to use force” is not a declaration and the Constitution requires a declaration.
Policies based on fear end terribly. To ban a religion is foolish advice.
It is written….
Islam is not a true religion. The Koran is the Mein Kampf of the religious world. It instructs Muslims to degrade, humiliate, oppress, enslave, and slaughter non-believers throughout the entire book. It is 114 Suras of irrational hate, oppression, intolerance, violence and bigotry. Islam is a barbaric political ideology, not a real religion at all. Islam, like Nazi fascism must be destroyed! Muslim immigration must stop now as America’s future depends on it. The Quran, shariah and the Constitution cannot coexist, they are fundamentally opposed to each other. Islamic doctrine instructs moslems to take God-given rights, our constitution protects them. You have to be a real putz to believe Islam is a religion, one need only look at 1400 years of Islamic history to know Islam should be banned from America and the world!
Timothy McVeigh didn’t kill in the name of Christ or Christianity. Nor does Christian doctrine instruct to kill, as Islamic doctrine instructs moslems to do. You’re a moron. Why don’t you compare apples to apples?
86% of the nation believes in the Christian God, so your comment about stopping Christian immigration is asinine.
Although Obama has obviously been discriminating against Christians with his immigration & refugee policies. When the moslems were slaughtering Christians in Syria, Obama never lifted a finger to help them.
Hey all you moslems, immigration without assimilation is not immigration; it’s an invasion. So we demand you assimilate or get out! What did you come here for if you don’t want to assimilate? We will NOT allow you moslems to make the USA an Islamic caliphate. Islamic doctrine teaches that for a moslem to be a perfect moslem, he has to do exactly as Mohammed did. Mohammed had sex with little girls was intolerant of non-muslems. So, need I say more….
There is no Constitutional right to immigrate into the US. Trump is not proposing jailing Muslims already here like FDR did to Japanese Americans. He temporarily wants to halt immigration.
Either we are at war or we are not at war. If we are not at war, the troops should come home. If we are at war, we need to get aggressive and win on all fronts.
President Jimmy Carter banned Iranians from coming to US during the hostage crisis.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/261062/carter-banned-iranians-coming-us-during-hostage-daniel-greenfield