30 JAN 2017: Amidst the weekend chaos – much of it at airports – caused by Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration orders, The White House on Sunday tried to tamp down concerns in the face of widespread protests, as some Republicans in Congress urged him to proceed with caution in the face of legal pushback. Top congressional Republicans, however, remain largely behind the new president.
During a round of Sunday show interviews, Trump’s aides stressed that just a small portion of travellers had been affected by the order, which temporarily bars the citizens of seven majority Muslim nations from entering the country.
But here’s the thing – the seven nations included in Trump’s executive order are – Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran – but it does not ban travel to the US from residents of Afghanistan, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.
The primary perpetrators of the major terror attacks have mostly been US-born citizens or permanent legal residents originally from countries not included in the ban.
According to an analysis of terrorism immigration risks by the Cato Institute no person accepted to the US as a refugee, from any of the seven countries to which the ban applies has been implicated in a terrorist attack since the Refugee Act of 1980 set up systematic procedures for accepting refugees into the US.
Here’s a look at the origin of the terrorists who committed major attacks in the US in the name of radical Islam in recent years, including those in San Bernardino, Orlando, Boston and New York.
San Bernadino
On December 2, 2015, 14 people were killed and 22 others were seriously injured in a terrorist attack consisting of a mass shooting and an attempted bombing at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. This incident apparently inspired Trump’s travel ban, but neither of the shooters would have been affected by it. Syed Farook, 28, was an American citizen born in Chicago. Tashfeen Malik, 29, was born and raised in Pakistan, and later lived in Saudi Arabia. She arrived in the United States on a K-1 fiancée visa and later became a permanent resident.
Trump’s executive order does not ban travel from residents of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. In addition, the K-1 fiancee programme remains in place.
New York and New Jersey
Ahmad Khan Rahimi accused of an array of bombings and murder charges in new York and New Jersey in two incidents on September 17, 2016. The explosion in New York’s Chelsea district injured 29 people. Rahimi was born in Afghanistan and first came to the US in 1995. He became a naturalized US citizen in 2011. Officials said he had recently spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan neither of which is on Trump’s list of banned countries.
Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting
Omar Mateen, the man who shot and killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, was an American citizen living in Fort Pierce, Florida. He was born in New York, and his parents were from Afghanistan. His widow, Noor Salman, was arrested earlier this month on charges of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting her husband’s material support to ISIS.
She grew up in Rodeo, California, and her parents immigrated to the US from the West Bank in 1985, according to The New York Times.
Neither Afghanistan nor the West Bank is included on the list of banned countries.
Boston Marathon bombings
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, were born in Kyrgyzstan to parents originally from Chechnya. The Tsarnaev family arrived in the US when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was 8 years old, and they applied for and were granted political asylum.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev became a naturalized citizen in September 2012.
Chechnya and Kyrgyzstan are not included on the list of banned countries.
World Trade Center
Of the 19 people who hijacked four planes on September 11, 2001, 15 of them hailed from Saudi Arabia. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt are not included on the list of banned countries.
Green cards
The White House reversed course and said that citizens of those countries who hold permanent US residency “green cards” will not be barred from re-entering the US, as officials had previously said.
“I can’t imagine too many people out there watching this right now think it’s unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone travelling in and out of Libya and Yemen before being let loose in the United States,” said Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus. “And that’s all this is.”
As of Sunday afternoon, one legal permanent resident had been denied entry to the country as a result of the order, according to a federal law enforcement official. The official was not permitted to discuss the order’s impact publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement Sunday, saying he deemed the entry of lawful permanent residents to be in the national interest, and absent information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare, residency would be a “dispositive factor in our case-by-case determination.”
The changes, said White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, defender of ‘alternate facts’, are “a small price to pay” to keep the nation safe.
But it’s unclear whether the order, which also suspends refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely bars the processing of refugees from Syria, will accomplish that. The order does not address homegrown extremists already in America, a primary concern of federal law enforcement officials.
And the list of countries in Trump’s order doesn’t include Saudi Arabia, where most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from.
Priebus said that other countries could be added to the list. Trump spoke by phone Sunday with leaders from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries not affected by the change.
The order has sparked widespread protests and denunciations from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Many have accused the administration of rushing to implement the changes, resulting in panic and confusion at the nation’s airports.
“You have an extreme vetting proposal that didn’t get the vetting it should have had,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who urged the new president to “slow down” and work with lawmakers on how best to tighten screening for foreigners who enter the United States.
“In my view, we ought to all take a deep breath and come up with something that makes sense for our national security” and reflects the fact that “America’s always been a welcoming home for refugees and immigrants,” he said.
Several Democrats in Congress said they would be introducing legislation to stop the ban.
The White House said later that King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, had both agreed to support safe zones for refugees, but offered no further details.
It’s okay
Top congressional Republicans, meanwhile, were backing Trump despite concerns raised Sunday from a handful of GOP lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he supports more stringent screening mechanisms, though he cautioned that Muslims are some of the country’s “best sources in the war against terror.”
It’s not
Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, warned of unintended consequences, expressing fear the order could “become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.”
“This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security,” they wrote.
It’s definitely not
Koch political network, which is among the most influential players in the conservative movement, also condemned the plan Sunday.
“We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families,” network co-chairman Brian Hooks said in a statement.