Trump’s Muslim Ban And The Chinese Exclusion Act Of 1882

The Chinese Exclusion Act and “Muslim Ban” contain similar characteristics to one another, which allows the audience to easily distinguish the relationship between the two. The Muslim Ban refers to President Trump’s executive order on January 27, 2017, which prohibited certain countries from entering the United States based on an attempt to limit “radical Islamic terrorists” (adl.org). Ironically, Trump has repeatedly mentioned that this attempt to strengthen national security doesn’t target a specific ethnic group, but the seven countries that were banned from entering the U.S. consist of predominantly Muslim communities. Similarly, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 targeted Chinese men and women, which prohibited them from entering the U.S. until it eventually was repealed in 1943. Even though both sets of laws occurred in different time periods, they clearly display similar attributes of discrimination towards a specific ethnic group, which only furthers the notion that Trump’s executive orders and the Chinese Exclusion Act were morally unjust.

The Chinese Exclusion Act is not only a cringeworthy aspect of history because of its exclusion of Chinese men and women, but it was the “first significant law restricting immigration into the United States” (history.com). Although its primary focus was to strengthen national security against “agents of a foreign country,” the Act was also put into effect in order to regulate and decrease the amount of “skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining” (ourdocuments.gov). Furthermore, by initiating the law and prohibiting Chinese workers from entering the U.S., Congress essentially labeled them as individuals whose only purpose was to work. According to Asia Times, the logic from Congress’ point of view was that “immigrants [were] mostly workers, seen as articles of commerce in that broad sense” (atimes.com). Through this, it is extremely relevant and clear why many AAPI communities in today’s society can create the proper distinction between the Chinese Exclusion Act and all its discriminatory actions to the Muslim Ban, which was placed in effect earlier this year.

On January 27, President Trump signed an executive order that banned seven countries from entering the United States. The action received a great deal of outrage from diverse communities across the nation because of the widespread belief that it was unjust to ban multiple countries that consisted of a majority of Muslim people. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Tom Perez reacted to Trump’s attempt at a travel ban, stating, “Trump’s obsession with religious discrimination is disgusting, un-American, and outright dangerous” (Perez). In essence, Trump is promoting discriminatory practices by advocating for the ban of certain countries and Muslim men, women, and children from entering the U.S. based on unjust assumptions that by doing so, terrorist threats will incredibly decrease. Instead of encouraging all ethnic groups to rejoice and be able to live with one another, Trump is publicizing separation between communities as a solution to terrorism.

Both the Chinese Exclusion Act and the “Muslim Ban” can be evidently identified as discriminatory actions towards particular ethnic groups, one towards Chinese people and the other towards Muslim individuals. According to Asian Times, the primary similarity between the two acts involves the prejudiced idea that Chinese or Muslim people were “unable to assimilate” into American society. In addition, it is made known that Trump’s absurd logic regarding Muslims in today’s society and Chinese people from over a century ago is reminiscent of each other because they both “follow a hateful religion” and “don’t love America” (atimes.com). In an article from the Boston Globe, Jeffrey D. Sachs offers a different perspective on Trump’s travel ban attempt, stating, “The real goal is to fan the perception among Trump’s political base that Islam is an existential threat to Western civilization” (Sachs). In this way, Sachs indicates how incredibly outrageous it is to refuse to accept Muslim refugees who are trying to flee wars that the U.S. clearly “instigated”; Sachs refers to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, and Syria.

Communities in America have a challenging time with the implementation of the executive order from the administration that slabs the noncitizens from seven countries(Hsu). This law was based on national origin and was being used as a strategy for ethnicity, race, or religion. This was the political message to all these groups(Hsu). The AAPI community has been banged in the history of America, either for entering or for exiting the country, by the US government(Hsu). One other aspect of this law is the ban on terrorists from entering the US, using this law(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). This was the reason given in the notification by the president, and included the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., and section 301 of title 3, to explain this(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”).

The same is the effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which also banned all classes of immigrants to China. Even the Chinese workers had been very productive in American history, with having the role in Transcontinental Railroad. This is a very important development in America that knit all the Americans via this opportunity given to them by the Chinese residing in the American country(Hsu). This was also based on the race and discrimination being done with them under this order.

There are also moments in history that stopped this discrimination. For instance, in 1965, there was the end of the immigration policy, which gave pause to this discrimination policy (Hsu). Also, there were Vietnamese Americans in 1970 who were the sufferers of the war, proving that Americans could have diverse communities (Hsu).

With the help of the executive order, the government has the aim of having changes in the policy and procedure of the visa-issuance process. There will be new selection and inspection protocols and procedures related to the processing of the visa. This helps in United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP); aim to detect the foreign terrorist presence. Thus, by improving the screening policy, the government will be perfect in controlling the presence of terrorists in the country.

The details of the order contain the blockage of the entry of immigrants from seven countries that are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, all Muslim countries that have the highest and most alarming terrorist activity rates. These countries are nominated under section 217(a)(12) of the INA and also under 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12) (“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). All these references deal with the limited use of the visa by Congress sanctioned to Iraq or the country elected by the Secretary of State being the terrorist country as Iran, Syria and Sudan are nominated. There were also three more countries that were designated as not the same countries for the purpose of traveling.

These are the Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. This classification is based on three statutory factors that have a link with terrorism and national security. The country is nominated as the one where people cannot enter the US if these people prove to be a threat to the national security of the US. If the country has an organization that is a threat to the US, belonging to this country. Moreover, if that country serves as a safe place for terrorist activities, then the US will nominate it as the riskier country. There is also an objection from Congress related to the visa processing procedure of that particular country. This was done by exercising the authority under Article II of the Constitution as well as under Section 212(f) of the INA. This article states that if the president finds that due to any foreign entry related to any country, the US comes under the threat of terrorism, then the entry should be banned under the power of the constitution(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”).

The period will be accordingly decided by the US Congress and related laws. This law was imposed by the president for a period of 90 days. However, the Secretary of Homeland Security was given permission to have the cases waived one by one depending upon the clearance of the particular individual from that country. There is also the suspension of the USRAP for 120 days on account of its being used by the terrorist.

Iran has been nominated as the state that has supported terrorism since 1984. Iran supports the Hizballah, Hamas, and terrorist groups in Iraq. Iran has also been connected to hold up for al-Qa’ida and has allowed al-Qa’ida to convey finances and armed forces through Iran to Syria and South Asia(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). Even Iran has no cooperation with the United States in counterterrorism pains. The other state nominated by the US president is Libya. In Libya, there is the control of the armed militias instead of the state for the running of the operations of the country. There are lots of violent groups in Libya(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). The country is not able to control terrorism in its country, although providing assistance in counter-terrorist activities. This certainly measured the maximum flaw of this country and got banned by the US. There was a suspension of the US embassy in Libya during the year 2014, due to the severe conditions. Somalia is considered as the heaven of the terrorists.

There are two terrorist groups, Al-Shabaab and al-Qa’ida, that have had their operations in this country for several years(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). These have spread their operations in the neighboring countries also, making the situation more complicated(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). Even this country is not acknowledged by many countries in the world due to its banned borders. This country also cooperates with the US on terrorism grounds but has no control inside the country over terrorist operations.

Sudan has been supporting terrorist activities since 1993, supporting both Hizballah and Hamas(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). It was the safest place in the world for al-Qa’ida for their training. The country has ended its support for the terrorists now and is helping out the US, but still, it did not get clearance from the international counterterrorism groups(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). Syria has been the sponsor of terrorism since 1979. The country is facing this activity in the region due to the military conflict in the country with ISIS(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”).

Syria also has the support for more terrorist groups and allows the entry of these into eh Iraq. The US embassy has also abolished its function in Syria since 2012, as it is no longer a safe country for operations, with no support for terrorism to the US. The incumbent government and the Houthi-led opposition have a conflict in Yemen(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). There are hundreds of attacks due to different terrorist groups in the country. It is the country that has the major share in the smuggling of the weapons used in terrorist activities. This is the sponsor of the terrorist activities of the al-Qa’ida(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). The US embassy also stopped its operations in this country in 2015 on these grounds.

Iraq has a specific link with terrorism, as there were many portions of the country that have been the greater zones of terrorism, for the terrorist activities, especially the northern and the central portions of the country are under the control of the ISIS group(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”). Presently, this control has weakened due to the effective management by the government in controlling these activities. There is a different treatment of the US government in Iraq due to its presence in Iraq and its cooperation in terrorist activities(“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”).

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 perched Chinese immigration for ten years into the United States, with the decelerating Chinese, as barred for naturalization. This act was passed on May 6 and was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. and directly targeted the Chinese workers and affected the workers on the West Coast. There was the fear of waning wages and economic troubles for these Chinese workers, affecting the context of The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. At that time Chinese population was very small in the US, consisting of about 0.002 percent of the nation’s population. But still, this act was targeting that small population severely. This act was passed by Congress to suppress the workers’ demands the racial purity, the result of the act. However, there was a relaxation to the non-workers of Chinese to visit the US by taking special permission from the Chinese government. It was, however, not an easy task, as It was not the easiest approach to get approval from the nonworkers because the act was defined by the terms of skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining. Thus, it was very difficult to have clearance from all these terms and come under the umbrella of non-Chinese workers to have entry into the United States.

The act was challenged by the Chinese worker, applied on their racial basis; their efforts were fruitless before the congress. There was the renewal of this act for more than ten years, and Chinese workers were not to enter the US territory eternally, and if they entered would be illegal entry for an unlimited period(“Dark Shadows Of Chinese Exclusion Act In Trump’s Muslim Ban”). When renewed for the period of the next ten years, this act was known as the Geary Act(“Our Documents – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)”). The result of the legislation was excellent, and America was set free from the Chinese population within the next few years. These were again got the rights of citizenship of America in 1943. This was the very first act that was passed to stop any nation from entering into America. Otherwise, America was considered to be the land that invites the different people, under the concept of a special dynasty.

The success of America related to the Chinese exclusion gave it the encouragement to have more acts aimed at certain other nations, not to enter the American land. These aimed nations were the Middle Easterners, focusing on the Hindu and East Indians as well as the Japanese(“Our Documents – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)”). The act was not only related to the new entrants but the Chinese workers who were already present in the United States for the working purposes got the severity of this act there. They faced the new requirement of entering the United States, which, if left the United States, once for any purpose, would require certification for re-entering (“Dark Shadows Of Chinese Exclusion Act In Trump’s Muslim Ban”). Also, this act was made strict by Congress by refusing to give them citizenship by the residents there. Going further ahead in the discrimination practices, Congress used the requirements about national origin.

In 1943, all the acts were canceled by Congress, which gifted the rights of citizenship to the Chinese people. This was adopted until the legislation of another act, the Immigration Act of 1965. This act was aimed to have only 170,000 immigrants from outer the Western Hemisphere into the United States, having the maximum entry of people only 20000 from a single country. This was effectual till July 1, 1968, and aimed to have political safety. This act was the comprehensive legislation after the 1965 act in the immigration policies. There was the flavor of the visa by the family living in America, having employment there, and increasing the diversity in the country. But all these can be availed at about 7 %, maximum reach.

The Chinese Exclusion Act has an undecided peculiarity owing the first federal law to the United States to thwart associates of an explicit racial assemblage from inflowing the country. The law debarred the immigration of Chinese drudge and prohibited Chinese from flattering established citizens. The act was effective in the United States from 1889 to 1943, a period of the engagement of China in World War II. The act was sustained for so long for the reason of national security. At that time, Chinese workers were thought to be working for other countries in the United States, contributing towards the wreaking of American security. They did not express this in open terms, but they were particular about this danger and used it as the basis for having this act passed as the law at that time(Pierce and Messenger). They didn’t use those words, but they did talk about Chinese immigrants, in particular about being “agents” of a foreign country and describing them as being the “advance guard” of an army.

America has a history of screening refugees based on their race. Japanese also faced the check for entering America in 1907 and then by law in 1924. It was made clear that Japanese people who are eligible cannot enter Japan on any basis. The screening that America is allowed in the country legally and can have a period of two years or more. There is thus a small number of refugees that get entry into the United States, as compared to the whole world, which has a large number of refugees. This checking of the refugees for entrance was not only the focus of the foreign policy of America, but also the United Nations has checked on the entry of these refugees in different countries; the greater number of these refugees is of children, women and old people(“Chinese Exclusion Act – Facts & Summary – HISTORY.Com”). These people, being weak, can be used by any nation or any terrorist group to have the sensitive information of the destined country. There was the removal of the South Asian in 1917 from these inclusions.

This list has the barred Asiatic zone that covers the Afghanistan to the Pacific areas. As Japan had a strong power as compared to the other nations, it was treated as the non-allowing nations into the United States; therefore, the US treatment related to Japan was somewhat different and squashy. Thus, it was part of the diplomatic policy of America to have this different treatment due to its powers in the world. The same was the case with India, being under the control of the British at that time, and America was not in a position to have a conflict with the British.

There are echoes vested in the trump recent executive orders of the inclusions that were the part of the policies of the Americans. But now the focus of America has shifted towards banning Muslim countries on the same basis that used to have the inclusions in the past(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). America has the opinion of the importance of national security at the top, and it had the bad expenses of the foreign entrants into the country(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). There are thousands of people in American history who were foreign and were caught being part of terrorism-related crimes in the United States. These were both the immigrants and the refugees also(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). The most famous example of this is the sentence of the two Iraqi nationals in the United States in January 2013, the reason for being involved in terrorist activities. There was also a child refugee from Somalia who, when grown up in America, was responsible for terrorist activities and was caught and punished for his crimes there(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). He used weapons of mass destruction in crowded places in America.

On the continuity of these inclusions, recently, there has been an executive order identified as “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which is aimed at Muslim immigration into the United States(“Chinese Exclusion Act – Facts & Summary – HISTORY.Com”). The details of this executive order include the suspension of refugees for 120 days, with a ban on foreign nationals for 90 days(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). All these are for the Muslim people that have the association with the special seven countries that are nominated as the terrorist-supporting countries in the world(“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). Firstly, there was confusion related to this law as it also captured the entry of the green card holders, but this is not true at all.

Democrats criticized this executive order in the United States(“Trump Travel Ban: Second US Judge Block New Executive Order – BBC News”). In response to this, there was a statement from trump clarifying the basis of this executive order. He made it clear that it was not specifically the muslin bag, but it was aimed to target those people who could be a danger to the national security of America (“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?'”). This was not promptly accepted in America as well as in the whole world.

Works Cited

“Chinese Exclusion Act – Facts & Summary – HISTORY.Com.” HISTORY.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 9 Aug. 2017.

“Dark Shadows Of Chinese Exclusion Act In Trump’s Muslim Ban.” Atimes.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.

“Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” whitehouse.gov. N.p., 2017. Web. 9 Aug. 2017.

Hsu, Kevin. “Asian American Issues Monthly.” SAPAAC. N.p., 2017. Web. 9 Aug. 2017.

“Our Documents – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” Ourdocuments.gov. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.

pierce, sarah, and doris meissnger. Https://Pennstatelaw.Psu.Edu/Sites/Default/Files/Trump-EO-Refugees-Travelban-FINAL.Pdf. 2017. Print.

“Trump Travel Ban: Second US Judge Block New Executive Order – BBC News.” BBC News. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.

“What Is The ‘Muslim Ban?’.” Anti-Defamation League. N.p., 2017. Web. 9 Aug. 2017.