So what did you say when Obama temporarily (6 months) banned refugees?
http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/2011-obama-paused-iraq-refugee-pr...
Obama's suspended the processing of refugee statuses with the United States for 6 months for people in Iraq. This had no affect on those with existing visas, green cards or approved refugee statuses. It's my understanding this process can take from 6 months to 2 years to complete. This means no one would be disrupted / detained during travel as they wouldn't have been approved to travel yet.
Trump's executive order, however, applied to multiple countries and to people with green cards (initially) and visas. It was highly disruptive to those already in transit or were soon to be traveling.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I could tell they seem very different.
It's so hard to find the actual facts amid the rhetoric.
From my understanding: DHS initially said this would affect green card holders. Then the administration said green card holders need a special waiver to get through. Then that specific decision was reversed and now all green card holders can get through.
But of course if you find anything I said was incorrect please let me know :). I agree it's hard to find good sources with the media in a fury over this story.
That covers legal permanent residents -- green card holders -- and visa-holders from those seven countries who are out of the United States after Friday, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the temporary ban. They cannot return to the U.S. for 90 days. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/29/federal-judge-grants-st...
Googling "Green cards visa blocked" gives plenty more results.
> White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: "We didn't overrule the Department of Homeland Security, as far as green card holders moving forward, it doesn't affect them"
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/priebus-immigr...
I'm wondering if this was a reversal or a misunderstanding.
In case you don't trust The Independent Here's a solidly right wing source to back it up: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/444372/trumps-executive...
The order was signed on Jan 27. On the morning of Jan 29, Priebus said that it did not affect green card holders.
If that's a reversal, it was remarkably quick.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/US-Homeland-Security-Gree...
Now, of course, one could argue that the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security was making things up, but the overwhelming evidence, from ideologically and geographically diverse news sources all says the same thing: the ban included green cards, before being reversed.
A senior White House official later sought to clarify the situation, saying green card holders who had left the United States and wanted to return would have to visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to undergo additional screening.
Additional screening, not barring green card holders.
They were making it up as they went, and different parts of the government got different messages.
[1] http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-trav...
Not that surprising given their lack of experience in government.
One key question for many is how the order will affect US green card holders and people who hold dual citizenship with a Trump approved country and one of the seven banned nations.
Adding to the confusion, Trump administration officials seemed to at times contradict themselves during appearances on Sunday news shows. In mere minutes during an interview with NBC, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said the order "doesn't affect" green card holders, then later said "of course" it affects green card holders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia -- the seven countries Trump has temporarily stop immigration from for 90 days.[1]
and then:
Friday night, DHS arrived at the legal interpretation that the executive order restrictions applying to seven countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen -- did not apply to people with lawful permanent residence, generally referred to as green card holders. The White House overruled that guidance overnight, according to officials familiar with the rollout. That order came from the President's inner circle, led by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon. Their decision held that, on a case by case basis, DHS could allow green card holders to enter the US.[2]
Trump fans will hate it of course, but it seems CNN have the best source of leaks.
It's worth noting that Priebus isn't part of the Miller/Bannon circle, so his statements may have been a powerplay to try to moderate the policy.
[1] http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/29/politics/donald-trump-trav...
[2] http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-trav...
"Here's a list of the similarities - and a much longer list of differences between the controls Obama used in 2011 and Carter used in 1979."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/no-barack-obama-jimm...
1. Trump has made islamaphobic rhetoric a cornerstone of his campaign, giving this racist undertones
2. That was a quiet secret at the time, this was an extremely public executive order. Both are wrong, but that doesn't somehow detract from or excuse this massive escalation. There wasn't this outrage at the time because nobody heard about it
3. The political situation at the time wasn't as life-or-death for refugees. Sending political refugees back now is a death sentence. That said, the US has been pretty terrible at accepting refugees in general this past decade, which is very shameful
4. This order detained cleared refugees while in transit, and, originally blocked green card holders from returning to the US after exiting for any reason
5. Remember that Trump has a neo-nazi in his cabinet with bannon, who reportedly wrote this order. That alone should be reason for heightened suspicion