President Trump Signs Executive Orders to Build a Border Wall, Dramatically Increase Deportations, and Enact a Temporary Ban on Refugees

On Wednesday President Trump signed two executive orders to begin construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, increase border patrol forces as well as the number of immigration enforcement officers who carry out deportations. The orders also intend to strip so-called “sanctuary cities” of federal grant funding and establish new wide-ranging criteria that could make many more undocumented immigrants priorities for removal. "Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders," President Trump told workers of the Department of Homeland Security at the department's headquarters in Washington, where he signed the orders.

Although in the order President Trump directs the "immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border," funding for the wall would require Congressional approval. Trump has claimed that Mexico will reimburse US taxpayers for the construction costs, most recently suggesting he would obtain the funds by instituting a twenty percent import tax. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has denied that Mexico will pay for the wall, and canceled a planned meeting in the US with President Trump in protest.

The executive orders call to increase Border Patrol forces by an additional 5,000 agents as well as for 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to carry out removals, again subject to Congress appropriating the sufficient funds. The executive actions also outline new criteria to determine which undocumented immigrants should be prioritized for deportation, potentially placing hundreds of thousands and arguably even millions more people in the federal government's crosshairs to deport. The order states that any undocumented immigrant convicted or simply charged with a crime that hasn't been adjudicated could be deported. (Under former President Obama, only undocumented immigrants convicted of a felony, serious misdemeanor, or multiple misdemeanors were prioritized for removal.) The order also specifies additional new priorities for deportation including undocumented immigrants who abuse public benefits, or simply those who in the “judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security," open-ended criteria that could be applied to many. 

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, tells CNN that Trump's actions are "extremist, ineffective and expensive" and says the president is using lies about immigrants to push US policy. “Trump is taking a wrecking ball to our immigration system. It shouldn't come as a surprise that chaos and destruction will be the outcome," Hincapié says, noting that her organization will challenge Trump's moves in court.

Later this week or next President Trump is also expected to sign executive orders to block refugees from Syria and suspend the US refugee program for an initial 120-day period to ensure no admissions are made for those who “pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.” The order comes despite the fact that Syrian refugees already undergo intense screening processes that often last eighteen to twenty-four months. The orders, still in draft form, also stipulate that when the refugee program is resumed, it prioritizes refugees who have undergone religious-based persecution, “provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.” For Muslim-majority countries this would presumably mean Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities, even though the majority of those killed, persecuted, and displaced by the Islamic State are Muslims. The total amount of refugees admitted also will total 50,000, decreased from 110,000 that the Obama administration had planned to accept.

The draft order calls for an immediate thirty-day halt to all immigrant and nonimmigrant entry of travelers from certain countries—including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia—whose citizens “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” The order would allow those with visas to be turned away at US airports and other entry points. Additional provisions under the order would require all travelers to the United States to provide biometric data on entry and exit from the country, instead of current entry-only requirements, and suspends a waiver system under which citizens of certain countries where US visas are required do not have to undergo a face-to-face interview at a US Embassy or Consulate. The draft executive order also calls for visa applicants to be screened for their ideologies. “In order to protect Americans, we must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward our country and its founding principles,” it reads.

To justify the order, the action claims “hundreds of foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2001.” The Washington Post notes, however, that most terrorist or suspected terrorist attacks since 9/11 have been carried out by US citizens. Moreover, the 9/11 hijackers hailed primarily from Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon, all which are US allies and not affected by the proposed ban.

Immigrant advocates and human rights groups have criticized the announced actions. “To think that Trump’s first 100 days are going to be marked by this very shameful shutting of our doors to everybody who is seeking refuge in this country is very concerning,” Marielena Hincapié tells the New York Times. “Everything points to this being simply a backdoor Muslim ban."

UPDATE JANUARY 27, 2017: This afternoon President Trump signed the executive order, “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” that according to a draft released earlier this week enacts a temporary ban on refugees and suspends visas to immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 4, 2017: A judge in Seattle ordered a nationwide halt on Friday to the travel ban after a Boston court refused to extend a stay. The ruling from the Seattle judge, James Robart of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington, an appointee of President George W. Bush, is the most far-reaching ruling to date, though courts around the country have stayed certain aspects of President Trump's travel ban.

The federal government was “arguing that we have to protect the US from individuals from these countries, and there’s no support for that,” Judge Robart said in his decision. The judge's temporary ruling bars the administration from enforcing two parts of President Trump’s order: the ninety-day suspension of entry into the US of individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen—and the order's limits on accepting refugees, including “any action that prioritizes the refugee claims of certain religious minorities.”

Initially calling the ruling "outrageous," the White House late Friday issued a revised statement saying it would seek an emergency halt to the judge’s stay to restore the president’s “lawful and appropriate" order. Earlier this week the State Department said 60,000 visas had been revoked. A State Department official tells CNN that the department has "reversed the cancellation of visas that were provisionally revoked following the Trump administration's travel ban—so long as those visas were not stamped or marked as canceled." The Department of Homeland Security also said Saturday it has suspended actions to implement President Trump's executive immigration order. Nationals of the affected seven-Muslim majority countries who intend on traveling outside the US or to the US should consult an experienced immigration attorney. We will continue to provide updates as we receive them.

The Guardian: “Registry used to track Arabs and Muslims dismantled by Obama administration”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that it is dismantling the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), the outdated and discriminatory registration program that required certain immigrants from twenty-five Muslim-majority, Arab, and South Asian countries to register their presence in the US. The final publication of this DHS rule to fully terminate the NSEERS program is the latest move from the Obama administration to place roadblocks in the way of President-Elect Trump, who has threatened to prevent non-citizen Muslims from entering the US and keep them under surveillance inside the US.

As the Guardian explains, the NSEERS program was “one of the most contentious—and widely hated—elements of the Bush administration’s anti-terror policies in the wake of 9/11. More than 80,000 people from 25 listed countries, 24 of which had majority Muslim or Arab populations, were forced onto the scheme in which they were required to provide fingerprints and a photograph and periodically present themselves for in-person interviews with DHS officers.”

Although about 14,000 of those registered individuals were placed into removal deportation proceedings, none were prosecuted for any terrorist activities. Mohammad Jafar Alam, a member of the South Asian social justice group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) which actively campaigned to dismantle NSEEERS, says he knows from personal experience how it affected individuals and families. “The extreme mental, emotional distress, the financial problems, the pressures on a family and the isolation that happens is a punishment not just for one person, but everyone involved,” he tells the Guardian.

Joanne Lin, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which also strongly opposed NSEERS, says it was a “completely failed counterterrorism program. Out of 80,000 men who registered for it, there was not a single terrorism prosecution, yet it alienated Muslim and South Asian communities across the country.”

After DHS and FBI officials concluded it was discriminatory and ineffective, NSEERS was discontinued in 2011. But since the framework for the registry remained in place, the incoming Trump administration could have easily re-instated the program by putting majority-Muslim countries back onto the list. President-Elect Trump has called for a ban on all non-citizen Muslims entering the US, and he has also said he would enact “extreme vetting” for migrants and immigrants from countries deemed to be a terrorism threat. Kris Kobach, the secretary of state for Kansas and one of the original architects of NSEERS, who has been advising the Trump transition team on immigration and anti-terrorism issues, proposed last month that his priority for the DHS would be to “update and reimplement” the NSEERS program. By fully terminating the NSEERS program, the Obama administration is attempting to force Trump to undergo the formal notice-and-comment rulemaking process to implement a similar program; however, “there are certainly ways the Trump administration could impose this rule or a similar one without going through notice and comment,” American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) President William Stock tells Bloomberg BNA. “I think there will be parts of the Republican Party who will want to overcome this action by the administration,” he says.

In a statement, AILA says the NSEERS program “led to notorious ethnic profiling and civil rights violations.” Additionally, AILA’s members represented thousands of individuals required to register and witnessed how unjust the program was and how it brought shame to law-abiding individuals. Clients who tried to comply and voluntarily appeared for registration were treated like criminals and subjected to aggressive practices, including being handcuffed, denied access to attorneys, and put in detention. AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson says:

It is hard to quantify the immense negative impact NSEERS had on the fabric of our nation. It upended the lives of tens of thousands of business owners, scientists, and family members who were lawfully present in the United States, and all the while it failed miserably as a counterterrorism tool…Rescinding the regulation is a recognition that a dark chapter in our country's history can and should be closed, once and for all.

Royce Murray, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council agrees: “While we can all agree that national security must be a priority, the NSEERS registration program was widely regarded as an ineffective and obsolete counterterrorism tool. The next administration should not repeat the mistakes of the past and institute any discriminatory registry.”

Professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights clinic at Pennsylvania State University, believes that rescinding the NSEERS structure will make Trump’s plans more difficult. “At the very least it is going to take time,” she tells the Guardian. “At most it will take a whole lot of time, as it will force the Trump administration to introduce a rule change that could be open to public comment and legal challenge.” Wadhia adds: “This is the best Christmas present I could have asked for."

The Guardian: “Typecast as a terrorist”

Riz Ahmed, a Pakistani-British actor and rapper who struggled as a young actor to find work beyond two-dimensional stereotypical roles and who faced nearly constant interrogation and difficulty flying internationally after acting in such films as The Road to Guantanamo and Four Lions, says that airports and auditions are quite similar. In both, he is trying to play a fully realized three-dimensional character to an audience—producers and casting agents and immigration and security officers—who can’t get past the color of his skin and his “Muslim-sounding” name. Ahmed says:

You see, the pitfalls of the audition room and the airport interrogation room are the same. They are places where the threat of rejection is real. They are also places where you are reduced to your marketability or threat-level, where the length of your facial hair can be a deal-breaker, where you are seen, and hence see yourself, in reductive labels – never as “just a bloke called Dave”.  

Ahmed’s difficulty at airports—he was once illegally detained at Luton Airport where British intelligence officers insulted, threatened, and attacked him—echoes the treatment that many other Asians receive when traveling internationally, including actor Shah Rukh Khan, the “King of Bollywood,” who has been repeatedly detained at US immigration and who famously said: "Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom."

After Ahmed’s experience at Luton airport—where he was illegally detained after having just won a film award for a movie about illegal detention—he wrote a song called “Post 9/11 Blues,” which included lyrics such as: “We’re all suspects so watch your back / I farted and got arrested for a chemical attack.”

In an airport holding pen, Ahmed explains, with few exceptions there are twenty slight variations of his own face, “like a Bollywood remake of Being John Malkovich. It was a reminder: you are a type, whose face says things before your mouth opens; you are a signifier before you are a person; you are back at stage one.” He adds: 

The holding pen also had that familiar audition room fear. Everyone is nervous, but the prospect of solidarity is undercut by competition. In this situation, you’re all fighting to graduate out of a reductive purgatory and into some recognition of your unique personhood. In one way or another you are all saying: “I’m not like the rest of them.”

With his passport stamped with visas and entries to such countries as Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, Ahmed found himself being questioned again and again. These “airport auditions” included such questions as “Did you become an actor to further the Muslim struggle?” and although so far they have always been successful in the end, “they involved the experience of being typecast, and when that happens enough, you internalize the role written for you by others. Now, like an over-eager method actor, I was struggling to break character.”

As he becomes better known (he has been featured recently in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, HBO’s The Night Of, and the latest Jason Bourne movie), his experience at US airports becomes smoother. Now he is often able to find the additional airport baggage search and questioning “hilarious rather than bruising.”  

“But this isn’t a success story,” he says. “I see most of my fellow Malkoviches still arched back, spines bent to snapping as they try to limbo under that rope. These days it’s likely that no one resembles me in the waiting room for an acting audition, and the same is true of everyone being waved through with me at US immigration. In both spaces, my exception proves the rule.”

BuzzFeed: “Welcome to America — Now Spy on Your Friends”

The FBI has been pressuring Muslim immigrants who face long delays when applying for permanent residency and US citizenship to become informants in order to expedite their cases, a BuzzFeed News investigation alleges.

The investigation, based on government and court documents, official complaints, interviews with immigrants, immigration and civil rights lawyers, and former special agents, finds that pressuring Muslim applicants to become informants in order to have their cases expedited—or, conversely, threatening to deport them if they do not comply—violates the FBI’s own rules regarding informants. These rules are detailed in the “Attorney General’s Guidelines Regarding the Use of FBI Confidential Human Sources” and forbid FBI agents from making any promises or commitments regarding the “alien status of any person or the right of any person to enter or remain in the United States.”   

Moreover, according to these guidelines, agents must explicitly warn potential informants that the FBI cannot assist with their immigration status in any way. BuzzFeed finds the opposite has happened:

Mandated to enforce the law, the bureau has assumed a powerful but unacknowledged role in a very different realm: decisions about the legal status of immigrants — in particular, Muslim immigrants. First the immigration agency ties up their green card applications for years, even a decade, without explanation, then FBI agents approach the applicants with a loaded offer: Want to get your papers? Start reporting to us about people you know.

BuzzFeed shares the story of one Pakistani software programmer named A.M. (he did not want his name used), who had spent seven years attempting to obtain a Green Card. After a series of interviews, three encounters with the FBI, and unexplained bureaucratic delays, with his work visa shortly expiring and no apparent end in site, he decided to file suit against the Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the FBI.  Afterwards at another meeting with the FBI he was asked to write down names of people he thought were terrorists. When he replied that he didn’t know any terrorists nor was he aware of any suspicious activity, he reported to BuzzFeed that one of the agents told him: “We know about your immigration problems…And we can help you with that.” The catch: he had to make secret reports on his community, friends, and family.

He refused, and shortly thereafter immigration authorities revoked A.M.’s existing work visa and FBI agents turned up unannounced at his home and workplace. Soon A.M. and his family sold their possessions and left the US, where he had lived for seventeen years. 

The goal for the FBI, BuzzFeed reports, is to take advantage of many immigrants’ desperation no matter how useful their supposed “terrorist” contacts would be or if they even have any reliable intelligence about terrorism. This wide-scale approach to intelligence gathering is not even effective according to Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a national security expert at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. He told BuzzFeed. “All of this investigative effort is against people who are not suspected,” he said, of “terrorism or any other criminal activity.” He added: “This becomes an obstacle to real security.”

Many delays for Muslim immigrants begin with the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP), a once secret USCIS program designed to identify security risks among applicants for visas, asylum, Green Cards, and naturalization. Established in 2008, CARRP targets a wide range of applicants, including not only suspected or known terrorists, but also for applicants based on a range of criteria, including geographical factors, knowledge of someone who is under surveillance, whether any money transfers have been made abroad, having worked for a foreign government, or even certain foreign language skills.

With CARRP, critics contend, the FBI can easily influence the immigration process. Indeed a 2013 report by the ACLU found that immigration authorities “are instructed to follow FBI direction as to whether to deny, approve, or hold in abeyance (potentially indefinitely) an application for an immigration benefit.”

Christopher Bentley, a USCIS spokesperson, told BuzzFeed that each applicant’s file is reviewed and decided by immigration officials alone (not law enforcement) on a “case-by-case” basis. The FBI’s National Press Office said they couldn’t comment to BuzzFeed on the specific strategies and tactics used to recruit informants.

While many have criticized the FBI’s use of informants within Muslim communities, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI believed recruiting informants within the Muslim community was crucial to preventing future terrorist attacks. The Heritage Foundation details at least eighty-one potential terrorist attacks they say have been thwarted since 9/11 and notes that the use of informants was key to preventing many of the attacks. The authors stated: “Both government outreach efforts and the vigilance of Muslim communities against terrorism have proven vital in protecting the US” while noting that “more must be done to enhance mutual trust and partnerships between government, intelligence, and law enforcement and Muslim communities.” And after the recent San Bernardino terror attacks, Edward Gernat, a supervisory special agent for the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego, explaining how the FBI operates in general, told the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Our No. 1 goal is to prevent acts of terrorism…We will use any law enforcement tool legally available to us to prevent an act.”

US Increasingly Denying Entry to Muslims and Individuals of Certain Countries

In recent weeks, Muslims and individuals from certain countries are reportedly being refused entry to the US, leading some to think that innocent individuals are being caught up in increased US security measures.

Muslim Family Headed to Disneyland Denied Entry

In one case, a British Muslim family was barred earlier this month from flying from Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom to the US for a vacation at Disneyland. Mohammed Zahid Mahmood said he and his family—which included two brothers and nine children—were not allowed to travel to the US for vacation, despite previously having obtained clearance. He told the BBC that his children were "traumatised, really upset" about the cancelled trip. "They think they've done something wrong," he said. "I want an explanation, and what's going to happen next. I would still like to go to America, I would like my kids to fulfil their dreams."

Stella Creasy, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said that her inquires to US officials on why her constituents—Mahmood and his family—were not allowed to board the flight to the US were not answered, and consequently she wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron to look into the matter, citing a "growing fear" among British Muslims that “aspects of Trump's plans are coming into practice even though they have been widely condemned.”

Because of other instances of US airlines either preventing Muslims or “Middle Eastern-looking” individuals from flying as well as alleged mistreatment, some think that presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslims visiting the US and other anti-Muslim sentiment and discrimination in the US has led to increased and overly-aggressive scrutiny of Muslim and Middle-Eastern travelers to the US.

While Cameron’s office said they are investigating the matter, a top Muslim group in the UK said the incident appears to be related to the travelers’ religion and is very concerning to British Muslims. A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman told ABC News that the "religion, faith or spiritual beliefs of an international traveler are not determining factors" for admittance to the US and that people can be denied entry for numerous reasons including health-related issues, prior criminal convictions, security concerns, or other grounds. The Muslim Council of Britain says the last-minute denial of boarding without explanation is unfair for Muslims. "There is a perception that such decisions are being made due to the faith or political activism of individuals," the council stated. 

Mahmood, whose family reportedly spent £9,000 on tickets for the Disneyland flights, told the Guardian that they received no explanation for why they were not allowed to board their flight, but he believed it was “because of the attacks on America—they think every Muslim poses a threat.” According to news reports, the US Embassy in London has not issued any comments or clarifications as to why Mahmood and his family were not permitted to travel to the US to visit Disneyland or regarding any increased travel security restrictions.

British Imam Ajmal Masroor Denied Entry

Ajmal Masroor, a British imam and broadcaster, reports he was also prevented from traveling to the US for business, despite having traveled to the US multiple times already this year. While Masroor was originally denied an ESTA, or Electronic System for Travel Authorization, after US Embassy staff contacted him to apply, he had been granted a business and tourism B1/B2 visa, which he said he used to travel to the US.

“In my mind, the refusal and revoking of my visa was calculated. For me it’s very callous,” he told the Guardian. In response, the US Embassy in London said: “The embassy is aware of this matter. We are in contact with the individual and therefore have no further public comment at this time.” Masroor believes US officials are singling out Muslims. "This is absolutely discrimination. It is not acceptable and playing into the hands of the terrorists," he said. Masroor also said he had heard of twenty similar cases of fellow Muslims being denied entry to the US, and David Cameron has been informed of additional cases as well.

In addition, Indian students have been denied entry to the US. In two separate cases, twenty Indian students with valid student visas for colleges in California were denied entry in Chicago and returned to India, and nineteen students were barred from boarding an Air India plane headed to San Francisco for the same schools.

It’s not only travelers to the US being excluded entrance, but Australia has also faced criticism for denying entry to certain individuals, including Zahra Ramadani, a Syrian-born British national whose visa was issued and revoked without explanation right before she was scheduled to fly to Sydney, and a Pakistani family who were trying to visit their terminally ill son who was unable to travel out of Australia.

Those who are planning a visit to the US should be aware of the proper ESTA and visa procedures and requirements, and also their rights if denied entry.