Feelings on Immigration Ban
In early 2017 there were lots of discussions in our home and online about the shocking election of President Trump followed by his horrendous attempt at an Immigration Ban from countries with refugees who need our help the most. I truly never get political on my blog or social media (and hardly post on social media at all), but I felt like this was an issue I had personal ties to and felt so strongly that if people knew the incredibly difficult vetting process refugees already faced then they would understand how awful this ban truly was. Here are a few screen shots of things I posted then, mostly just to remind myself of how I felt at this time.
Here is a conversation that a friend and I had privately on FB messenger that I also want to preserve as it sums up why it was so upsetting to me. I loved her question, her articulateness and willingness to have an open discussion. She was a great example to me of how we should approach a controversial topic we may not fully understand.
My sister Amy and her family live in Salt Lake and were part of a massive peaceful protest that occurred to demonstrate how many of us Utahans disagreed with the ban. If we lived closer, I would have loved to have marched with them that day.
Hey Emily! I hope you're doing well. I have a question for you that I hope you're okay with answering. We've talked a little about politics before, and I feel like we're on the same page about most things. I've seen. your posts about the refugee situation, and I know you feel strongly about allowing them to come to America. I agree with you. I think part of America's greatness comes from it's ability too reach out to the less fortunate and help and bring people from all over the world together. My ancestors were among the Pilgrims as well as those Mormons who were persecuted and had to flee from the US to the West. I have great compassion for the refugees. That said, I also have a hatred for terrorism and the multiplicity of terrorist attacks over the past few years have made me very determined in that fact that it is our right as a country to protect ourselv
ourselves from terrorism. From what I've read about the ban on refugees, I understand that it doesn't apply to all countries and that it only will last for up to 6 months while the leaders of our nation try to decide how best to ensure that terrorists are not being let into our country disguised as refugees. I've read that only about 7 of the countries with the most widespread terrorism are banned, while other countries refugees are still allowed to come. Do you have other information of which I am not aware? I'm honestly trying to understand this situation because I'm confused as to why so many people want to stop this ban when it makes sense to me that we would do all in our power to try to prevent terror attacks. It will make Americans safer and refugees safer when they get here, if I'm understanding this correctly, but I may not have all the facts. I would love to hear your feedback.
Emily
Annalee- thanks so much for reaching out! We are at Sunday dinner right now in Parowan, but as soon as I get home and put kids to bed I will share a few thoughts - mostly from experiences my family has had. More soon!
Emily
The night got away from me and I have a little window here while babies nap. My strong feelings against the Exectuive Order calling for an Immigration Ban stems primarily from the personal experiences. About 3 years ago, my brother Gabe had a summer internship for the United Nations during law school in the country of Jordan doing initial intake interviews for potential refugees. Even then, the application process was absolutely grilling. Gabe really struggled as he met with amazing individuals and their families who had lost limbs and family members fleeing the terror in their country and sometimes even defending US soldiers/citizens. Unless if they had hardcore proof of their good will to the US, they were often denied refugee status due to the stringent nature of the interviews. Since then, with the continued rise of ISIS and the terrorist attacks in Paris, Belgium, etc., the application process has tightened up even more (which after having first hand experience with the process, my brother is absolutely ridiculous). It takes Syrian refugees nearly TWO years to complete the process already. These refugees are vetted over and over again, so to think that people who have already been through this drawn out (and expensive!) process are being turned away at the doorstep is so sad.
Emily
Sent that before I meant to! My other family experiences are from my brother-in-law, Karl, who is a family practice doctor in Salt Lake. For the past 8 years he has worked with refugees making up about 75% of his patients. He has heard story after story of the ridiculous hoops these people have had to jump through in order to enter into our country. They have come from war torn, corrupt places all over the world and are fleeing to America to raise families and have a peaceful life. So many of them want to become citizens and contribute positively to society.
Emily
The third example I have is my brother Elijah who is currently serving as the Branch President in Turkey and working at the US Embassy in Ankara. He works with refugees on a daily/weekly basis from investigators and new members within the church as well as the scores of people coming to the embassy and begging for help. Again, not enough space here to share all the stories he has heard, but after hearing just a sampling of them, I have felt that our need to help should far outweigh our fear of terrorism. The measures we already have in place to protect our country are already so strict and the terrorist threats we have had from citizens of those seven countries (not even refugees) are in the single digits. I'm not saying we shouldn't protect our people, but I feel the legislation in place already does so and it feels cruel to completely shut the door to individuals who have been legally and peacefully trying to come into our country for sometimes years.
Emily
However, I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the Ban or President Trump's intentions. From what I've read, however, he didn't inform anyone beforehand of the Ban and most people involved with the immigration/refugee process were completely blindsided. It feels as though in his effort to keep all his campaign promises, he is bulldozing ahead without consulting or studying up on any of the procedures already in place.
Emily
Sorry that was a million years long! How are you guys doing? Are you feeling settled?
Thanks for telling me all that. It really give me some food for thought. I agree with what you said about Trump "bulldozing ahead without consulting or studying up" in order to keep his campaign promises. Part of being a republic is that the people with all the information are able to make better choices than what the people might think because they can see the whole picture. Part of my problem is knowing what information is true and what is false. It sounds like there is already a grueling process for refugees to be able to come to America, so perhaps stopping the process wasn't the right plan of action. I'm not sure what would be the right plan. I know that immigration among all people is ridiculous. Jan, our realtor in Cedar City, married an American, yet it still took her 12+ years to become an American citizen. I think that's ridiculous. It's really cool that you have so many people around you dealing with refugees so that you know their stories and situations. I honestly know no one who works with them, so all I know is what I read about and see.
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