In a nation that considers tolerance as a foundation for their citizens' fundamental rights, Donald Trump's proposal of barring Muslims from entering into the US temporarily, comes as a complete shock.
On December 7, billionaire businessman and Republican frontrunner for the US presidency Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on". According to The Examiner Press, the major reaction following this statement was aversion, with many calling it as "unconstitutional". Most are appalled because it openly discriminates against a class of people based on religion and punishes them, even those who have done nothing wrong.
Trump's idea has been influenced by the recent December 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. Married Pakistani couple Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook fired into a banquet room during a holiday party hosted by Farook's employer, the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. They killed 14 and left 21 wounded. According to authorities, Farook was a US citizen whose parents migrated from Pakistan. Malik entered the country via a fiancée visa which is issued to an individual abroad who plans to marry an established American citizen. The couple married last year.
Trump's proposal started a maelstrom which has critics and legal experts divided in their opinions. According to NDTV, in a CBS news poll earlier this month, majority of American voters voted against the temporary Muslim ban in the country at 58 percent, while the remaining 42 percent are in favor. Of the Republican voters, 55 percent agree with Trump. Some of Trump's supporters think his proposal makes perfect sense in the wake of recent events like the massive Paris terrorist attacks and the San Bernardino shootings. They also believe Trump to be reacting to "a clear and present danger". Others simply dismiss Trump as a "buffoon" with an "over-the-top" persona.
Despite the criticism, it is clear that Trump's proposal has struck a nerve at the core of many Americans' consciousness. Legal experts have put forward their own opinions.
Eric Posner, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, doesn't think the proposal to be unconstitutional. He adds that the US president "has a huge amount of discretion under the immigration statute" and that not all legal protections given to citizens are applicable to non-Americans. Posner also believes that people should instead ask and debate on whether it's morally right to allow more immigrants to come into the country at a time when it's common knowledge that ISIS is taking extreme measures to infiltrate the US.
According to Recorder Post, Andrew Cuomo, an outspoken critic of Trump's Muslim ban proposal, acknowledges that Trump is surrounded by smart advisers who think the Muslim ban to be "good politics for him". However, Cuomo personally believes it to be "an awful policy."
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