President Trump’s recent immigration and refugee executive order has sparked passionate discussions on both sides of the spectrum of human rights and freedom of religion versus national security safeguards. Whether you want to support or reject this executive order, it’s important to be informed on what exactly this order states, and the implications of those statements for Americans as well as the people from the seven countries banned in the order: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Tucsonians can come to the Muslim Community Center of Tucson for an open forum on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. to hear lawyers who specialize in these areas discuss this executive order and what legal changes Americans could expect to see within the next four years. Isabel Garcia will make the opening remarks and moderate the discussion, Tarik Sultan will be leading the conversation on “immigration law in the Trump era,” Thabet Khalidi in “Civil Rights and Wrongs,” and Jose Vasquez in the “Use and misuse of criminal law against targeted minorities.”

Don’t let ignorance be your compass to your political decisions. It’s your right as an American to think, believe and say whatever you choose, but your voice will be much more effective if you make the time and effort to ensure it’s an educated one.

This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2017.

13 replies on “Get Educated: Trump’s Immigration and Refugee Executive Order”

  1. Pretty well said Jessica. I do hope they remember to remind attendees that entrance into the US is not a right. It is a privilege. For many years that privilege has been abused. By immigrants and by lawmakers. Safeguards must be put in place to prevent additional abuses.

  2. With Isabel Garcia leading off, I don’t think it will be about getting “educated.” Indoctrinated maybe.

  3. Immigration is also an investment. The LA Times said that about 70% of CA immigrants from Mexico ( both legal and illegal) get some sort of government benefit. Usually Food Stamps, WIC,disability benefits, free medical care, education etc. I doubt AZ immigrants are more/less industrious. So basically if you pay income, sales, property , or excise taxes you are supporting these immigrants. AND that means those tax dollars aren’t going to other uses like education, infrastructure , pot hole repair, pre natal care, debt reduction ( taxes on future generations), senior subsidies, etc.
    Given this investment, it would seem that the investors have the right to influence WHO they are investing in. Would probably argue for more people like Steve Jobs biological dad and fewer someone’s sick uncle looking for a big disability check. Hope Isabel covers that.

  4. Many studies have been done on this and the notion that undocumented immigrants are somehow draining the treasury is simply false. The general conclusion is that yes, a few border states show a net loss in tax revenue vs. services provided, but the nation as a whole enjoys a large net gain, to the tune of billions of dollars. If the feds would recognize this and cough up some money to the border states to help cover their costs, then problem solved.

    For one thing, undocumented immigrants pay taxes, too, and in reality they do not avail themselves of a number of services and benefits that American citizens do. For another, they contribute mightily to U.S. productivity and overall economic output, which boosts tax revenue across the board. Funny how the mining companies play these multipliers up in their inflated claims of economic impact, but people ignore the same dynamic when it comes to immigrant labor.

    And “free health care”? Are you kidding? What country do you live in???

  5. From an AP article published today:

    “She (Gov. of Oregon) said immigrants here illegally can’t receive welfare benefits but that many pay taxes. The Social Security Administration estimated immigrants and their employers paid $13 billion in payroll taxes in 2010.”

    No, they don’t receive Social Security benefits, despite paying billions of dollars into the system.

  8. They can ignore the facts but it will be at the peril of their party. Credibility is being traded fake news. Please tell your loved ones.

  9. The violence at Berkeley was mostly carried out by DistuptJ20. They also caused chaos in Washington, DC on Inauguration Day. Donald Trump has made a lot of dangerous and powerful enemies because of his “America first” vision of America. He wants to cancel the H1B Visa program in favor of programs that put Americans at the top of the list for high tech jobs, he met with the heads of major pharmaceutical companies and told them he wanted to work on getting the cost of prescription drugs down. He says that new drugs are not being made available and affordable to those who need them. Unlike other politicians who focus on health insurance, he wants to focus on getting the cost of the care itself down. He also feels that health care should be focused on curing disease not just treatment. He believes both would benefit not just this country but the world! His preference for bilateral trade agreements as opposed to multilateral trade agreements, and pulling out of TPP, was even worse! He also wants end the Liberal control of the media by opening up opportunities to those with different viewpoints. Actually, Donald Trump is not the monster that the media makes him out to be. All the “Trump is the new Hitler” BS is as far from the truth as you can get. He’s just thrown a monkey wrench to the multinational corporations globalization agenda. Trump doesn’t believe that this is necessary not to our advantage. He has also said that a Trump administration would not seek impose our way of life on anyone. The “nation building” interventionists (warmongers) were not happy! I pray for this man, his family and his cabinet.

  10. PS: I just want to add that, i’m not fooled for one second that any individuals or organizations donating money to “stop Trump” actually give a damn refugees, Muslims or anybody else. They damn sure don’t care about Americans. Their “compassion” is self-serving, hypocritical and as phony as a $3.00 bill. It’s quite obvious that education is NOT top priority at UC Berkeley. Trump has said he wants to cut their funding. I hope he does. This riot was all about stopping a speaker whose views they didn’t like from speaking to an audience of those that had invited him. So much for “tolerance”. And they have the nerve to call somebody else a “fascist”! The Left is always accusing the Right of being what they, themselves actually are. They are the real racists. They are the real racists. They are the “new Hitlers” of the 21st century yelling, marching up and down trying to stop someone else from exercising their right to free speech, all in the name of “tolerance”, “diversity” “love Trumps hate”, and “peace”. These people are nothing but brainwashed robots. They’re “useful idiots” for the Liberal Elite in academia to carry out their crusade against Trump. Sad part about it is their parents are probably also infected with this sick ideology so they probably cheered them on. I would advise any parent who has a good kid with a good soul and a sense of right and wrong and can think for themselves—don’t send them to a state university– it’ll ruin them. Liberalism was designed to destroy and I can see it’s doing its job well.

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