Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers
The Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers strongly condemns President Trump’s Executive Order banning certain refugees and other Foreign Nationals from entering the U.S. as un-American and not in the best interests of the country.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) February 01, 2017
The United States has always prided itself as a nation of immigrants. President Trump signed an Executive Order on Friday, January 28th which reverses the United States’ long history of providing refuge for those fleeing terrorism, persecution and violence. The order halts all refugee admissions for at least four months and halts the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely. If and when the United States begins accepting refugees again in Fiscal Year 2017, no more than 50,000 will be admitted, a significant reduction from the previous cap of 110,000. As of last week, nearly 30,000 refugees had already been admitted, meaning only 20,000 additional admissions can be granted through the remainder of the year.
Refugees undergo a screening process that can take up to two years to complete. Before being allowed to enter the U.S., the vetting includes a series of security screenings, biographic and biometric checks, forensic document testing and in-person interviews. The prospective refugee’s identity is checked against law enforcement and intelligence databases, including those of the National Counterterrorism Center, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of State and Department of Homeland Security.
The Executive Order further bans the admission of 134 million people whose only crime is having been born in one of the seven listed Muslim-majority countries (Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen). The order prohibits immigrants (including spouses, parents & children of U.S. citizens, company-sponsored employees, etc.) and nonimmigrants (including university professors, executives of U.S. companies, students seeking to return to the U.S to continue their degree programs, etc.) from entering the United States for at least 90 days, declaring their entry to be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
According to the Cato Institute, a public policy research organization (a “think tank”), the number of Americans killed by terrorists from the countries listed in the executive Order between 1975 and 2015 is exactly 0. Further, the Institute lists the chances of a U.S. citizen being killed by a refugee as 1 in 3.64 billion per year.
Although the President was quoted this weekend as saying that the government was "totally prepared" and that the travel ban was “working out very nicely,” it was obvious that serious challenges existed. It was reported this weekend that it wasn't until Friday - the day Trump signed the order - that career Homeland Security staff were allowed to see the final details of the order. The result was widespread confusion across the country on Saturday as airports struggled to adjust to the new directives. Further, a number of prominent Republican senators spoke out against the issuance of the Order over the weekend.
ABIL strongly recommends that any individual who believes they may be impacted by the Executive Order speak with an ABIL member before departing from the U.S. or before seeking reentry to the U.S.