As a result of the president’s executive order banning Muslims, disgust and anger rose today when five Iraqis and one person from Yemen were not allowed to board Egypt Air flight 985 in Cairo, bound for New York’s JFK International Airport. This happened even though the passengers had valid immigration visas. Chaos erupted today at JFK after two attorneys from Iraq were detained upon their arrival on Friday. They, too, had been legally granted visas to come to America and have now filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government and President Donald Trump.
On behalf of other refugees, a class-action lawsuit is also expected to be filed.
The most controversial list in the world
What is worth asking, is why has the president spared other countries known to have terrorist ties from his list. The executive order suspends issuance of U.S. visas and travel permits for citizens of Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Yet, conspicuously, absent from the list are countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, where the president has major business interests and where terrorists who actually killed thousands of Americans were born. According to statistics, not one American was killed by a citizen from the blacklisted countries between 1975 and 2015.
Are conflicts of interest a thing of the past?
During a campaign rally in Alabama, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump told the crowd that Saudi Arabians buy apartments from him, spending $40 million to $50 million. He asked his supporters if he was supposed to dislike the Saudis, then said that he didn’t think so. He registered eight companies in that country.
The majority of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. A declassified U.S. intelligence report claims wealthy citizens and the Saudi government assisted in funding Muslim radicalism around the time of the 9/11 attacks. Turkey is a hotbed for terrorist activities. Trump has licensed his name on two towers in the capital city of Istanbul and just this week, the State Department issued a travel alert advising Americans to not travel there.
Egypt is another country containing ISIS-affiliated groups where the State Department discourages U.S. citizens from visiting, yet it is not on Trump’s blacklist. He has at least two companies there. Trump and his daughter Ivanka are seen in several photographs taken over the years, shaking hands with sheiks in the United Arab Emirates, where the Trump Organization has two golf courses. A widespread presence of Al Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated groups persist in that region. Upon learning of the executive order, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lamented that tears were now streaming down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty. The president states that we only want those who love our country here. Well, how do you vet honest feelings?
