Hamline Univ. Professor David Schultz
Hamline University analyst David Schultz says President Trump’s re-worked executive order on travel from Muslim countries is better crafted than his first, which was struck down in court, but Schultz says it still has many problems. He says, “It still appears to target individuals based upon their religion, and that I think becomes the fundamental problem.” The order bars new visas for citizens from six Muslim countries, but leaves Iraq off the list. The Trump administration says it will keep would-be terrorists out of the U-S while the government reviews the vetting system for refugees and visa applicants. Schultz predicts a number of legal challenges to Trump’s re-worked order, and says some will likely be successful.
Schultz says a better way would be something Trump talked about in the campaign: “More detailed background checks of individuals who are seeking to come to the United States. And that might be a far more effective way of protecting American security than… targeting people from these countries.” Schultz says Trump could also impose a travel ban on individuals suspected of terrorism — but notes in some sense that’s already in law.
Senator Al Franken calls the president’s order “more of the same discrimination and fear-mongering” that “goes against who we are as a nation, and actually makes us less safe.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar issued this statement:
“For the second time, this Administration has put in place an order that bans all refugees from all over the world for 120 days, and drastically reduces the number of refugees who will be welcomed to the United States each year. Minnesota and the entire country are strengthened by our refugee and immigrant communities. As legal workers, they are a vital part of our economy. Refugees are extensively vetted as it is, and if the Administration wants to change the vetting process, they could do so without immediately banning all refugees from every country in the world.”
Much more in Bill Werner’s interview of Professor Schultz: