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Not So Fast,
Mr. Ryan
By Kate Burch
House Speaker Paul Ryan has condemned, and even threatened to sue,
Donald Trump over Mr. Trump’s promise to impose a temporary ban on
Muslim immigration. Mr. Ryan, and others on both sides of
politics, have claimed that such a ban would be unconstitutional and in
violation of our values and traditions as Americans.
In truth, there is much precedent for restrictions on immigration, both
by Congress and by the President acting alone. The Plenary Power
Doctrine, articulated by the Supreme Court, gives Congress broad and
deep power over immigration law. Under powers granted by
Congress, the President alone may suspend the entry of “any class of
aliens as immigrants” if their entry would be detrimental to the
nation’s interests.
The 1952 MrCarran-Walter Act, devised in response to the threat posed
by Communist infiltration of the United States, passed with broad,
bipartisan support and over the veto of President Truman. The Act
allowed deportation of immigrants or naturalized citizens who engaged
in subversive activities, and also allowed barring immigration by
suspected subversives. McCarran-Walter remains in effect, though
it has been modified by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
(Hart-Celler), which gave preference to immigrants with needed work
skills and family relationships with U.S. citizens; and by the
Immigration Act of 1990, which aimed to increase the diversity of
immigrant groups and to eliminate exclusions viewed as inhumane, such
as of homosexuals. President Carter invoked McCarran-Walter in
1980 during the Iranian hostage crisis. He ordered that there
would be no visas issued to Iranian citizens except for humanitarian
reasons or in the service of our national interest; Iranian students in
the U.S. were ordered to report to the INS, where they were questioned
with regard to their support for Ayatollah Khomeini, and thousands of
them were deported. The ACLU and other left-wing groups accused
Carter of fearmongering and of engaging in a witch hunt, and a lawsuit
was filed on First Amendment grounds, but Carter’s ruling stood.
Some critics object that Trump is targeting a religion, rather than a
nationality. There is, however, much to be said in support of the
assertion that Islam is as much a political system as a religion.
Islam was actually founded on political grounds, when Mohammed was
asked to be the ruler of the city of Medina because he was considered
capable of resolving conflicts among several Arab tribes. He was
made leader, then proclaimed to be the Prophet of Allah.
Throughout its history, Islam has sought to extend the caliphate and
impose Sharia Law on the world. In more recent times, Islam has
militated against Western “imperialism,” mostly focused on Western
economic and cultural hegemony.
Finally, it is important to recall that the rights confirmed by our
Constitution and Bill of Rights are the rights of Americans, and cannot
automatically be invoked by non-citizens. Though we would like
all peoples of the world to enjoy the natural rights enumerated in our
founding documents, not all peoples or political systems agree, and
some would prefer to destroy what we have, rather than to join with us
in living lives as free men and women. It behooves us to protect
what we have.
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