The United States is the mixing pot of the world. We are the product of immigration. Yet our new leader, who will preside over us for the next four years, is against the very concept we were founded upon.

On January 27th, Donald Trump signed an executive order barring citizens from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Libya from entering the United States for 90 days. In addition to this, all refugee admissions have been suspended for 120 days from these nations. Due to the fact that these are all predominantly Muslim countries, critics and advocacy groups have dubbed Trump’s immigration ban as “Muslim Ban.”

Saturday the 28th was the beginning of the uproar. In New York a handful of travelers, including visa holding passengers, were detained at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Fortunately, by that night, an emergency order by a federal judge countered the ban for landed visa-holding travelers and those in route. However, others are now in a state of limbo (cnn.com).

In a press conference, Trump stated, “America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border. America has always been the land of the free and home of the brave,”

Yet, what exactly does he think he is protecting us from?

According to David Bier, researcher and author at the CATO Institute,

• the chance of an American perishing in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that was committed by a foreigner over the 41-year period studied at the institute is 1 in 3.6 million per year.

• the chance of an American being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion per year

• the chance of being murdered in an attack committed by an illegal immigrant is 1 in 10.9 billion per year

3,252,493 refugees have entered the U.S from 1975-2015. Of those entries, only 20 were terrorists, which amounts to the small percentage of .00062% (CATO Institute, Bier).

Shockingly, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the U.A.E.–home of the terrorists who committed the atrocities of 9/11–were not included in the ban. The citizens of their nations have caused more American casualties than all the targeted ban countries combined.

Since the ban, there have been dozens of protests at airports across the nation. Trump should be less concerned with how many people appeared at his inauguration and more concerned with how the people of the United States feel about his rash actions.

Works Cited

“Five Reasons Congress Should Repeal Trump’s Immigrant & Refugee Ban.” Cato Institute. N.p., 28 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

“Full text of Trump’s executive order on 7-nation ban, refugee suspension.” CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

“Trump’s Exclusion of Immigrants from Specific Countries Is Not Legal.” Cato Institute. N.p., 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.