President Biden sets the stage for the next Muslim ban
17 hours ago
by The Frontier Post
Written by The Frontier Post
WASHINGTON DC (The Hill): Five years ago this month, on Jan. 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order he labeled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Ent-ry Into the United States.” Known as the “Muslim ban,” the order – with its misspellings and misstatements of facts and law – was enacted under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which essentially gives a president unilateral authority to ban certain classes of foreign nationals. The Muslim ban triggered global outrage as thousands of Americans rushed to the airports to support international travelers. Democrats, including then-candidate Biden, urged limits on the president’s power to unilaterally enact travel bans.
Fast forward five years, and even though the Muslim ban is no more, the basis for it – Section 212(f) – remains unchecked. Like his predecessor, Biden has leaned in on using Section 212(f) to enact his own travel bans with minimal checks or consultation with Congress.
Originally enacted in 1952, Section 212(f) provides the president with authority to suspend from entry “any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States” whose entry would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” As potent and open-ended as the statute is, few presidents bothered using Section 212(f) until President Trump. Referring to Section 212(f) as his “magical authority” to restrict immigration, Trump turned to it in the first week of his presidency to institute the Muslim ban that he had promised as a candidate. Although lower courts rejected the Muslim ban as discriminatory, the Supreme Court upheld the ban in Trump v. Hawaii
https://thefrontierpost.com/president-biden-sets-the-stage-for-the-next-muslim-ban/
