Photo via Wikimedia Commons
By Benjamin Pontz ’20, Staff Writer
On the heels of sending an email to discuss the potential impacts of ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Gettysburg President Janet Morgan Riggs again sent an email to the campus community regarding an immigration-related issue.
This time, the message discussed President Donald Trump’s recent executive order banning admittance from seven countries that have Muslim majorities: Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. Trump argues that these countries are “terror hotspots” and thus pose a threat to the U.S.
Riggs noted that although the college presently does not have any students or faculty who hail from such countries, faculty travel could be affected along with certain students’ family members. She promised support from college administration for anyone wishing to discuss the executive order’s implications further, and she closed by urging all members of the campus community to uphold values “rooted in the worth and dignity of all people—regardless of their religion or country of origin.”
Trump’s executive order has caused controversy for its ban on refugees as well as for seeming to uphold a campaign promise to ban Muslim immigration, a perception that was fueled by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (now an advisor to Trump) telling FOX News, “I’ll tell you the whole history of it: When he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.'”
Around the county, masses protested at various airports, and to date, several federal judges have stayed parts of the ban. Most recently, a federal judge in Seattle issued a nationwide stay on the ban, something Trump promptly denounced as “ridiculous.”
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” he tweeted on Saturday.
Nevertheless, the Department of Homeland Security has stopped enforcing the order, and a protracted legal battle is almost certainly imminent.
