The press and the left are smearing Donald Trump’s executive orders which restrict travel from terrorist hot spots and suspends the refugee program as a “Muslim ban”.
It’s not.
But there is a secret behind the order and it’s connected to the Obama administration.
The order restricts travel and the issuance of new visas from seven nations – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Writing on mic.com Sarah Harvard explains these seven nations were not picked at random.
They were chosen from a 2015 bill which was signed into law by Barack Obama.
Harvard writes:
“How, though, did the Trump administration choose these seven Muslim-majority countries? The truth is it didn’t: The countries were chosen during Barack Obama’s presidency.
According to the draft copy of Trump’s executive order, the countries whose citizens are barred entirely from entering the United States is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015.
Obama signed the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act as part of an omnibus spending bill. The legislation restricted access to the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens from 38 countries who are visiting the United States for less than 90 days to enter without a visa…
…Though outside groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and NIAC Action — the sister organization of the National Iranian American Council — opposed the act, the bipartisan bill passed through Congress with little pushback.
At the initial signing of the restrictions, foreigners who would normally be deemed eligible for a visa waiver were denied if they had visited Iran, Syria, Sudan or Iraq in the past five years or held dual citizenship from one of those countries.
In February 2016, the Obama administration added Libya, Somali and Yemen to the list of countries one could not have visited — but allowed dual citizens of those countries who had not traveled there access to the Visa Waiver Program. Dual citizens of Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and Iran are still ineligible, however.”
In addition, Obama paused visa issuances for Iraqi refugees after a 2009 incident where two Iraqi refugees were arrested for plotting a terrorist attack.
The media narrative in the wake of Trump’s order is that this is an unprecedented assault on American values.
Pundits are also claiming Trump is only restricting travel in countries where he doesn’t have business interests in those nations.
But those seven countries were already identified for travel restrictions by the Obama administration.
The media is falsely smearing Trump’s order as a “Muslim ban”.
It’s nothing of the sort.
In fact, appearing on Morning Joe, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said this was not a “Muslim ban”.
Trump did not just pick these countries out of thin air.
Nor was there a conspiracy to ignore the countries where Trump does business.
These seven countries were selected either for their lack of a functioning government, or because they’re a completely hostile regime and cannot be trusted to provide accurate vetting information on visa applicants.
And this all started with a 2015 bill signed into law by Barack Obama himself.
