On Jan. 28, 2017, President Donald Trump lived up to his campaign promise of placing an immigration ban on terror-prone countries. In his most recent executive order since taking office, President Trump originally banned all immigration without exception from the countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. In the wake of this ban, panicked green-card holders (immigrants who have already been granted residency in the States) were denied entrance to a country in which they had been living for years.

Many people who were denied entrance weren’t even immigrating, but rather returning to the country after personal vacations. Trump’s ban has sparked pandemonium and protest in cities and airports across the country, and for good reason. This country is a nation founded by immigrants. This country is a nation that prides itself on a rich cultural history and a characteristic “melting-pot” society that benefits from outside influence. Trump’s ban on muslim immigration has proven to be incredibly uncharacteristic of the values that we have come to cherish in this country.

But let us put all of that aside and look at the ban itself. Trump has deemed seven countries in the Middle East as terror threats, dictating that all travelers, with or without green cards, shall be denied entry to the United States. And yes, the Middle East is a terror prone area. The 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

So Trump’s ban could surely thwart future terror incidents from these regions right? Except Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, and Lebanon are not among the banned countries. In fact, not a single citizen of the seven banned countries has once committed an act of terror upon American soil. Coincidentally, however, the Trump immigration ban does not include Muslim-majority countries where the Trump Organization does business.

Yes, the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are all countries with which the Trump Organization has been extensively financially involved.
Nothing better exemplifies the hypocrisy of this new policy than the inscription at the foot of The Statue of Liberty; “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”