I weighed in on the president’s initial immigration order before he signed it. While my concerns over it were largely confirmed, I thought it best to wait this time until the revised version was actually, finally, out.
Well, as USA Today notes, “Trump took a second swing at his temporary travel ban Monday.” On the plus side, it removed the bizarre notion that religious persecution was impossible if one was in a religious majority (ask the Sunnis of Syria or the Shiites of Iraq how much “protection” majority status has rendered over the last few decades), ended the indefinite ban on refugees from Syria, removed Iraq from the list of countries from where asylum-seekers are blocked for 90 days, and made clear visa-holders and permanent residents were unaffected entirely. All of those changes make the order less damaging, but the order is still damaging.
After all, certain truths remain unchanged:
First, the major terrorist attacks on America soil this century were committed by Saudis, Chechens (Russia), and Americans descended from Central Asian nations. None of these source nations are affected by the order.
Second, our allies in the six nations listed are still affected, including veterans of the 2009 Green Movement against the Tehran mullachracy, anyone in the original anti-Assad movement of 2011, Libyans who overthrew Qaddafi and have been fighting off Daesh, and officials of the stable but unrecognized mini-state of Somaliland.
Third, our enemies still have other channels to infiltrate us – channels that are once again still open, in particular places like the United Arab Emirates and South Sudan (to name just two). The president may still be trying to send a message, but our enemies still see a how-to manual.
In short, the revised executive order is still based upon simplistic, almost child-like assumptions about foreign policy, namely (1) we have no friends in hostile areas, and (2) the enemy is foolish enough not to adapt to changes we make. Neither are true, and both are the weaknesses that ensure this order – however different it may be from the first one – is still a mistake.