It appears the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the conclusions of several lower courts from coast to coast and uphold the travel ban on several majority muslim countries. I believe this is wrong and similar in motivation to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII. This is discrimination based on race, religion and national origin.
That it is not the role of courts to decide how to keep the country safe is also a bit of a dodge since this view seems to deny that there could be multiple ways to accomplish the same goal. A policy that discriminates based on race, religion or national origin may actually increase the foreign threat. As president, I would be guided by the following.
We will disrupt and defeat terrorist groups wherever they establish themselves. We must understand that terrorists can come from many places and that ISIS is a corrupt and violent ideology which can spread through the internet as well as international travel. In addition to military suppression of terrorist groups in the Middle East and support for the people and legitimate governments in these countries, we must strengthen our efforts at home.
Persons who come from any region of the world where terrorists are active, must have a demonstrated family or business reason to travel to the United States and be very thoroughly checked out before coming here. If a thorough background check is not possible, a visa is denied and those persons cannot enter the country.
We do not need to call out anyone based on race, religion or national origin.
And as we are talking about keeping the country safe, we cannot ignore the almost daily mass shootings (four or more victims) almost entirely of domestic origin.
Fear is a powerful political weapon. Two men greater than I remind us that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. The Supreme Court should reject arguments based on fear and uphold the constitutional principal of equality of all people.
