fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

The Cruelty of the Travel Ban

The policy is one of collective punishment, and the people being punished have already endured displacement and devastation in their home countries.
trump-chop

Mark Leon Goldberg explains why the latest travel ban, in addition to being stupid and unnecessary, is also cruel. First he cites a recent tweet from Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council:

Goldberg then reminds us of the horrible conditions in Yemen, and says this:

The government of the United States is expressing a profound antipathy towards ordinary citizens caught up in this violence. It will now be all but impossible for them to go to school in the United States, or accept a job offer, or attend a professional development conference, or get a specialized medical treatment. This is not because of anything they have done as individuals, but simply because of their nationality [bold mine-DL].

The same applies to people living in Syria and Libya, both of which have been suffering from war and upheaval for the last five years and more. These are countries that the U.S. has helped destabilize to one degree or another, and now it is telling the people affected by the instability our government has helped create that they are barred from traveling here indefinitely. This is not because any of them are likely to pose a threat to the U.S., but simply because they come from war-torn places. These places are as chaotic as they are in part because of conflicts that the U.S. escalated or stoked. Not only is the policy one of collective punishment, and the people being punished have already endured displacement and devastation in their home countries. These are people who already have the misfortune of living in countries ruined by conflict, and then that misfortune is held against them and used as a reason to keep them out.

Advertisement

Comments

Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here