Did Obama pave the way for Trump’s immigration ban?
It only took a week for President Trump to turn his campaign promise of limiting Muslims admitted into the U.S. into a reality.
The controversial executive order halts entry into the U.S. for individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Syria and Libya — effective immediately.
Though the order’s constitutionality is now tied up in the courts, there’s another claim floating around that needs clarification: Is this ban “similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months,” as the Trump administration has argued?
Not exactly.
First of all, what Obama implemented in 2011 was not a “ban.” In 2011, two Iraqi men — both refugees—were arrested in Kentucky on “terrorism-related charges.” They remain the only Iraqi refugees to ever be arrested on U.S. soil for this reason. Immediately afterward, resettlement of Iraqi refugees slowed considerably due to increased security screenings. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified in 2011 that all 57,000 Iraqi refugees who had already been admitted to the U.S. would be revetted under a new Obama directive.
Though refugees from Iraq were not “banned” under Obama, the administration’s new refugee vetting process made it much harder for Iraqis to flee to safety with their families — a heartbreaking development for people who were promised the ability to do exactly that by the U.S. government. Legislation passed by Congress in 2006 facilitated resettlement specifically for Iraqis who had assisted the U.S. military, but Obama’s new screening process slowed it down dramatically.
Obama issued a statement on Trump’s executive order, saying he “fundamentally disagreed” with it, and that he was “heartened” by the community organizing he had seen in response.
But as Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of San Francisco’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says, Obama, along with U.S. presidents before him, did play a crucial role in normalizing increased scrutiny for Muslims and other immigrants entering the U.S.
“It’s important to note that Obama inherited this from Bush, and Bush inherited these powers from the War on Drugs, and so on,” says Billoo, referring to the expansion of executive powers in matters of immigration.
For example, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, or NSEERS, a Bush-era program put in place after 9/11, was created to register and keep track of visa holders, disproportionately targeting Muslim and Arab students, workers, and tourists. Obama disabled it just weeks before leaving office.
In some ways, Billoo says, a Muslim ban “already existed.”
It was already hard #FlyingWhileMuslim
Generally speaking, Muslims report a higher volume of racial and religious profiling incidents at airports, checkpoints and online. Incidents like these rarely result in apologies from airlines.
Reports indicate many people’s social media profiles were scoured by customs and border agents in the days after Trump’s executive action. A few people even said they were asked about their views on Trump. But social media surveillance was in place during Obama’s second term, too. Customs agents were allowed to search and seize any electronic device upon entry.
And, at the end of 2015, Democrats including Sen. Charles Schumer demanded the government formulate a program to review social media activities of those admitted to the U.S. on visas.
Deporter-in-Chief
Since the so-called “War on Terror” began, immigration has become increasingly intertwined with criminal justice and national security, despite numerous studies that show immigrants are less likely than U.S. citizens to commit crimes. For immigrant-rights activists, Obama’s actions were nightmarish: More undocumented immigrants (a staggering 2.5 million) were deported under Obama than under any other president in U.S. history.
Yes, he did create DACA, granting temporary work permits and protection from deportation to more than 800,000 young, undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers. Yet during Obama’s term, Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The fate of the DREAMers is now unknown.
“Everything we permitted Obama to do because we liked him, now Trump is permitted to do,” Billoo said. “That includes the kill list, the drone wars, the whistleblowers, all of it. We permitted it. Policy-wise, we handed all of this to Trump on a silver platter.”
