Tiffany Rascoe

March 17, 2017

Written Communication 102-21

Dr. Craig Wynne

Literature Review

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States. One

of his first acts as president was to enforce a ban on Muslim travel into the United States. Donald

Trump has stated that the purpose of the Muslim ban is to stop terrorism in the United States.

Although Trump claims that to be the reasoning for the Muslim ban, it is believed throughout the

country that his real purpose is to slowly start taking away the rights of minorities. While there

are many debates as to why the Muslim ban is happening in the United States, the main concern

is what will happen to America because of it. The assumptions being made and the concerns all

over the world lead to the following questions:

How closely have you been following news about President Trump's revised executive

order which temporarily bans citizens from Libya, Sudan, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and

Syria into the United States?

Can the Muslim ban be looked at as a repeat of what was done to Japanese citizens after

the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Are the citizens of the United States slowly losing their civil rights?
What are the reasons for the treatment of Muslims and the Muslim ban?
To answer the questions shown above, extensive research had to be done.

The first question asked was How closely have you been following news about

President Trump's revised executive order which temporarily bans citizens from
Libya, Sudan, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Syria into the United States? Based on

primary research which was done by survey sampling, 40.0% of freshmen

students living in Twitchell hall have been following reports of the Muslim ban

very closely and the other 53.33% have followed somewhat closely, while 6.67%

have not followed too closely. According to these results, most of the students

have been keeping up with whats going on with the Muslim ban that Trump is

trying to enforce. In other sources, it is shown that U.S. citizens are outraged by

his efforts to keep Muslim citizens out of the country. The move sparked

numerous protests and legal challenges. A week later a federal judge in Seattle

suspended it nationwide, allowing banned visitors to travel to the US pending an

appeal by the administration (BBC News). Therefore, to answer the question, it

seems as though most of the world is closely following the Muslim ban and what

will come of it.

The second question asked is Can the Muslim ban be looked at as a

repeat of what was done to Japanese citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was surprisingly attacked by the Japanese

Imperial General Headquarters. Two months after this attack, President Roosevelt

felt that all Japanese were a threat and issued Executive Order 9066, which

authorized the relocation and incarceration to anyone who was looked at as a

threat to national security. Because of this order, more than one hundred thousand

men, women, and children were forced out of their homes and shipped to

internment camps like cargo. The internment camps were unconstitutional as they

took away they rights of the Japanese as American citizens. When asked about the

backlash he is receiving for his plans to enforce the Muslim ban, he told ABCs
Good Morning America What Im doing is no different than FDRs solution for

German, Italian, Japanese, you know (Alex Griswold). Therefore, for Trump to

compare what he is trying to do with Muslims to keep us safe and Make America

Great Again is just an evil reenactment of what FDR did to make the Japanese

feel as though they were not citizens and that their rights did not matter. The

article points these facts out and shows readers that to compare the two and speak

of it like it is helping this country is racist and goes against everything the United

States stands for. During the holocaust, people of Jewish descent who were

seeking refugee from Hitler were turned away by U.S. authorities. These people

came to the United States hoping to seek refuge at a safe place, But instead of

opening its arms and ports to Jews fleeing certain death in Europe, the United

States and other indifferent nations turned back shiploads of desperate Jewish

refugees (Brett Wilkins). This was ended in 1965, when the US Congress

passed the Immigration and Nationality Act which said that no person could be

"discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the

person's race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence" (BBC News).

So many citizens feel as though the comparison between the Muslim ban and the

Japanese internment camps proves the unconstitutional motive behind the Muslim

ban.
Are the citizens of the United States slowly losing their civil rights?

This has been one of the main concerns of many citizens of the United States.

Many Americans feel as though this is just the beginning of Trumps plan to

slowly decrease the rights of minorities. Assessing Trumps plan, Stanford Law

professor Jenny Martinez said Excluding all people of a particular religion from
entering the country on the sole basis of their religion would, in my view, clearly

violate the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection (Ari Melber). People

fear that Trump are targeting these people simply because of their religion, and if

he is able to get away with this, who knows what race, religion, or sexuality he

might go after next. On the other hand, Donald Trump has stated that it is not a

ban on the specific religion of Islam, but rather a start to a new security system in

the U.S. He has gone on to support this claim by changing particular details of the

order and blaming the media for the name and the negative vibe that is now

associated with the ban.

Lastly, the question that is most asked and has received numerous different

answers is What are the reasons for the treatment of Muslims and the Muslim

ban? According to primary research, 53.33% of Hampton University students

living in twitchell hall, the reason for the ban is racism, 23.33% of students

believe it is out of fear, 13.33% believe it is due to multiple terrorist attacks, and

the last 10.00% believe that it is because of the September 11 attacks. As seen in

the results of the survey, most students believe that the Muslim ban is being

implemented because of racism. These claims are backed up by msnbc as it is

stated in an article that Donald Trump proposed a system of religious

discrimination for U.S. immigration policy (Ari Melber). Donald Trump on the

other hand rebuts these claims and states that the ban is protecting our own

citizens and border (Jill Colvin).

There are many assumptions as to why the Muslim ban is happening, but

the main concern is what will happen to the United States because of it. Hes

putting our soldiers and diplomats at risk, hes empowering the enemy
(Associated Press). There have been arguments as to which side is accurate.

Based on the primary and secondary research stated, it seems as though Trumps

Muslim ban is built on racism and fueled by fear. Despite Trumps claims for the

Muslim ban to add security for the United States, from all the research stated it

appears that but it will not enhance American security or make the intention

behind the original order any less bigoted (Parsi, Weinstein).

Bibliography
Colvin, Jill. "Trump Calls for Ban on All Muslims Entering U.S." PBS.

Public Broadcasting Service, 08 Dec. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

Griswold, Alex. "Trump Defends Ban on Muslims: No Different From

How FDR Treated Japanese." Mediaite. N.p., 8 Dec. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.
Melber, Ari. "Constitutional Scholars: Trump's Anti-Muslim Immigration

Proposal Is Probably Illegal." MSNBC. NBCUniversal News Group, 07 Dec.

2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

 Parsi, Trita, and Adam Weinstein. "Why Trump's Travel Ban Is Still a

Muslim Ban (Opinion)." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.
Press, Associated. "Trump Defends Executive Order on Immigration."

PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

Rascoe, Tiffany. "Sign into Your Account." SurveyMonkey - Log in.

SurveyMonkey, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

"Trump's Executive Order: Who Does Travel Ban Affect?" BBC News.

BBC, 10 Feb. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

Wilkins, Brett. "Trump's Refugee Ban Is Ugly, Deadly History Repeating

Itself." Daily Kos. Kos Media, LLC, 29 Jan. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.