#noMuslimBan

Let’s begin this rant diary (Rantary? Diarant?) right off the bat with a response to the lovely lady who yelled, “suck it up, buttercup!” at my nine year old daughter and her fellow protestors Saturday. To her I say, “NO.” Clear enough? Not very ranty, though, and this is a diarant. I’ll expand to include the lovely people saying we (me, my daughter, the other protesters all over the world) are overreacting and didn’t we read the EO and why are we making such a fuss about nothing. First, I did read the damn thing. Second, this isn’t nothing.

Let me break things down for you. Here are the chunks of the EO I am most alarmed by (with one that I actually like thrown in for flavor variety). You can read the whole monstrosity, complete with its super mature all-caps title, here. 

“In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including "honor" killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.” (sec 1)

Um, ok, first of all can I just point out that “violence against women” is one of the things DT is apparently ok with? My evidence? His budget. “At the Department of Justice, the blueprint calls for eliminating the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Violence Against Women Grants and the Legal Services Corporation and for reducing funding for its Civil Rights and its Environment and Natural Resources divisions.” (read the full article here ) Yup. He cares soooo much about women he doesn’t want to support programs aimed at reducing violence against women here in the US. I’m calling bullshit on this section also for the part about being against people wanting to oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation. Has he met his VP? Pence did plenty to oppress women and the LGBTQ communities while gov of Indiana. Does this mean that VP Pence won’t be allowed in the US? Sweeeeet. (But I’m pretty sure it just means they will be hypocritical dicks about other people being dicks.)

“After the 60-day period described in subsection (d) of this section expires, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the President a list of countries recommended for inclusion on a Presidential proclamation that would prohibit the entry of foreign nationals (excluding those foreign nationals traveling on diplomatic visas, North Atlantic Treaty Organization visas, C-2 visas for travel to the United Nations, and G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 visas) from countries that do not provide the information requested pursuant to subsection (d) of this section until compliance occurs.” (sec 3 e)

OK, so the freaky thing about this section is that it leaves the door open to ban other countries. In his initial list of seven predominantly Muslim countries, he left off the biggy – Indonesia. With this section, Indonesia and basically any other country isn’t safe from the cutting block.

“This program will include the development of a uniform screening standard and procedure, such as in-person interviews; a database of identity documents proffered by applicants to ensure that duplicate documents are not used by multiple applicants; amended application forms that include questions aimed at identifying fraudulent answers and malicious intent; a mechanism to ensure that the applicant is who the applicant claims to be; a process to evaluate the applicant's likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society and the applicant's ability to make contributions to the national interest; and a mechanism to assess whether or not the applicant has the intent to commit criminal or terrorist acts after entering the United States.” (sec 4 a)

Can I please just point out the obvious? The visa process is already incredibly invasive. Pretty sure they are already doing this (and, yes, I do have personal experience going through this whole process). The database thing would be useful if it  would mean that people wouldn’t have to submit the same docs more than once – not as in submitting the same doc for multiple people but as in I had to keep sending copies of my birth certificate every time the system got tweaked and I would have to resubmit new forms and fees. Ugh. Can we please just focus on making the current system more efficient rather than claiming it is non-existent or too easy?

“The Secretary of State shall suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days.  During the 120-day period, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Homeland Security and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall review the USRAP application and adjudication process to determine what additional procedures should be taken to ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States, and shall implement such additional procedures.  Refugee applicants who are already in the USRAP process may be admitted upon the initiation and completion of these revised procedures.  Upon the date that is 120 days after the date of this order, the Secretary of State shall resume USRAP admissions only for nationals of countries for which the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence have jointly determined that such additional procedures are adequate to ensure the security and welfare of the United States.” (sec 5 a)

Obvious statement: refugees are people running away from bad guys; they aren’t bad guys. Scary thing about this section: it is barring ALL refugees for 120 days. Now imagine you are running away from people trying to kill you. You’ve already spent years on the run, filing paperwork, being interviewed, going through biometrics registries and medical exams, and now you are told you have to wait an additional 120 days. No matter which country you are from, no matter who wants to kill you. Yeah. This sucks. Considering DT and VP claim to be more-Christian-than-thou, this is pretty fucking sick. This is not Christian. This is more like the “no room at the inn” dude who made Mary give birth in a manger.

“Pursuant to section 212(f) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f), I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.” (sec 5 c)

OK, so let’s single out the people from the country we bombed. Yeah, that’s fair…

“Notwithstanding the temporary suspension imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security may jointly determine to admit individuals to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the admission of such individuals as refugees is in the national interest -- including when the person is a religious minority in his country of nationality facing religious persecution, when admitting the person would enable the United States to conform its conduct to a preexisting international agreement, or when the person is already in transit and denying admission would cause undue hardship -- and it would not pose a risk to the security or welfare of the United States.” (sec 5 e)

Two things: first, this is the section that makes this the anti-Muslim EO, and, second, did they not explain to the law enforcement people the part about “already in transit”? Also, if visas and green cards are not preexisting international agreements, what are they? Saturday should not have happened and don’t tell me this is setting up a religious test.

“ To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of State shall immediately expand the Consular Fellows Program, including by substantially increasing the number of Fellows, lengthening or making permanent the period of service, and making language training at the Foreign Service Institute available to Fellows for assignment to posts outside of their area of core linguistic ability, to ensure that non-immigrant visa-interview wait times are not unduly affected.” (sec 8 b)

This is the one part I’m ok with. I’ve been saying for the last 13 years that we needed more people working CIS so the process goes smoother and faster. Yes, add more people working on the process. Let’s make a way for people to safely and legally immigrate or even just visit.

OK. So that’s the end of this first rant. I’m sure there will be many more as we continue to be shocked and appalled and told to “suck it up, buttercup.”