I am a British Citizen. President Donald Trump’s recent travel ban has caused more than a few headaches and a lot of fear, as it has for many people in America with family abroad. I know that the ban does not target British travelers, nor permanent residents, but I also know that the details of the ban were never clear. That uncertainty is very unsettling, and more worries arise with what could be next.
On January 27, the Trump Administration released an executive order restricting immigration. This order became known as the travel ban – and if you haven’t already heard about it, you have been living under a rock. The media hasn’t ignored the issue at all. People are talking everywhere, whether on Twitter or in Op-Eds. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the executive order. On February 9, the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against President Trump, suspending the ban that had been in place. As of February 16, the Trump Administration has decided not to try and overturn the Appeals Court order, but instead create a new order that will be released sometime in the following weeks.
To clarify the basic situation, part of Trump’s immigration plan is to protect Americans from possible intruders. The Trump Administration is trying to put in place new executive actions “to ensure our immigration is not a vehicle for terrorists,” one of Trump’s policy advisors, Stephen Miller said. This means a block was put on seven predominantly Muslim nations, stopping refugees and any other people from entering the USA. According to CNN, “Team Trump apparently never ran the order by officials at the Justice Department. Homeland Security officials weren’t given much guidance about how the order would be implemented or enforced.” It has lead to many different interpretations of the order and much chaos. People who had valid visas and green cards were detained, sent back to where they departed from, or simply not allowed into the country. This lead to many lawsuits and thus the Federal Court made a decision to temporarily block the order.
In 2000, when I was 6 weeks old, I moved to the United States. My family came here on visas that allowed us to legally stay and every 5 years we would have to leave the country and renew them at the American Embassy in London. This lasted almost my whole life. After my sister was born here, in 2001, my family applied for permanent residency, but after 9/11 occurred, the immigration system was somewhat backed up. Only about 4 years ago we finally received our permanent resident cards (Green Cards). Permanent resident cards take a lot of effort to get; many immigrants have to wait long years to be approved. They are necessary in order to apply for U.S. Citizenship. These plastic cards hold a person’s photo, biographic information, and fingerprint; they are given by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services as proof of granted authorization to live and work in the U.S. permanently.
As a foreigner who has lived here my whole life, the order released by President Trump scares me. I can’t travel and leave the country without fear that my family and I might be just another news story of people turned away at the gate and not allowed to come back home. Granted, this is rather unlikely as I’m not a citizen of a country that has been negatively associated with the religion of Islam. But that’s also what some of the people behind lawsuits were thinking when they were denied access back to their home.
I’m not the only foreigner with worrisome thoughts, there are multiple students here at WO that aren’t from the US originally. Soph. Benny Rathana moved to the US from Cambodia about 6 and half years ago, when he was 9 years old. By the time he arrived in America he already had his Green Card. “My mom applied for a visa and residency before I was actually born. My papers were in the process for around 9 years,” Rathana said. He didn’t hold back his feelings when I explained President Trump’s policy, “I was one of those immigrants. My life would be so different if I hadn’t come here. I feel really bad for the people who want that opportunity I got because most of them [refugees] are good people. It makes me mad. I don’t follow politics, but this is crazy,” Rathana said.
While Rathana isn’t really concerned for himself, he still has some worries about the order. “I am now thankfully a citizen since about 1 and half years ago so I don’t think I have this policy to worry about, but my family is still in Cambodia. I’m scared that a future for them isn’t possible here; I want them to have what I have. I have the chance for a better future and I want them to be happy. Here they can have better and longer lives but it’s so up in the air with these policies,” Rathana said.
This executive order makes it much harder to have family in different parts of the world. Immigrants like me and Benny would love to have our families with us or at least be able to visit them. The order, if reinstated, or revised, will have negative impacts on many families and people all over the world. So while Trump may be trying to protect America from possible terrorists entering the country, I personally, as a foreigner, don’t think this is the best possible way to go about it and the courts seem to be thinking the same thing.
