On Nov. 9, 2016, the United States elected the 45th president of the United States. On Jan. 20, Donald J. Trump was officially inaugurated into office. As of five days ago, exactly two weeks after his swearing in, Trump has signed 22 executive actions. One such action has caused the nation to erupt in outrage, and rightfully so. President Trump’s travel ban, or Muslim ban, calls for the suspension of immigration from several Muslim majority countries — Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq — for an indefinite period of 90 days. The United States refugee system has also been frozen for a period of 120 days. Trump has stated that this “extreme vetting system” will help “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the U.S.” Trump’s words have not fooled many, however, as most Americans see this executive order for what it truly is, a grossly unconstitutional ban on the Muslim population because of religion.
Trump’s Muslim Ban is unconstitutional for a number of reasons:
1. The order violates the separation of power between the federal government and the states. It imposes a drastic burden on the state’s economies and governance without any justification.
2. The order is unconstitutional because of its lack of fact and research. These factors prove the executive action to be purely arbitrary, which means being based on random choice or personal whim rather than with reason.
3. The ban also defies the law by breaking the 5th amendment. The 5th amendment protects people from being deprived of their rights without “due process of law”. The argument present here is that taking legal status away from people who have already been approved for entry into the U.S without giving them a hearing is a violation of their rights. This argument applies to green card holders, visa holders, and legal immigrants, but does not account for illegal immigrants.
4. The travel ban violates the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause because it is based on hate and discrimination towards the Muslim religion. The first Amendment specifically prohibits the targeting of religious entities.
5. The travel ban also significantly violates the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). One section of the INA prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sex, race, nationality, birth, or place of residence. By banning the entire populations of seven countries, Trump defies the rules set by the INA to refrain from discriminating based on nationality and place of residence.
Although it has been stated to have been established for safety reasons, Trump’s executive order banning seven Muslim-dominated countries from entry to the United States has proven to be unconstitutional and prejudiced. Trump breaks numerous laws and amendments that defend freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination. Because of his illegal deferrals from the constitution, the possibility of impeachment looms on the horizon for President Trump. Trump may believe himself to be free of the constitution, but even the most powerful man in the United States is not exempt from the law.
