Passports in the Time of Trump

Abstract

Passports in the Time of Trump Leti Volpp1 (bio) On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, five days after Donald Trump assumed the office of U.S. President, the public was treated to "Trump's day of shock and awe" (Digby Parton 2017). Trump stated in an interview on ABC news that he believed that "torture works," as media outlets circulated a draft executive order proposing to reopen secret CIA prisons. Rumors swirled that Trump was about to issue a ban closing the border to Muslim immigrants and to refugees. And that day Trump issued the third and fourth executive orders of his administration, Executive Order No. 13768, "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," directed at immigration enforcement in the interior, and Executive Order No. 13767, "Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements," directed at immigration enforcement at the border. Media coverage of these two executive orders centered on two issues: the punishing of so-called "sanctuary cities," and the ordering of the "immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border" ("Trump Orders" 2017). Announcing these executive orders through a speech to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Trump stated: This is a law enforcement agency. [Applause] But for too long, your offices [and] agents haven't been allowed to properly to do their jobs. You know that, right? Do you know that? Absolutely. But that's all about to change. And I'm very happy about it and you're very happy about it. From here on out, I'm asking all of you to enforce the laws of the United States of America. They will be enforced and enforced strongly. [Applause]. ("Remarks" 2017) Precisely how immigration enforcement was "about to change" was not yet publicly apparent, and the attention paid to these two executive orders was rapidly eclipsed by other events. While Thursday's news was dominated by President Enrique Peña Nieto cancelling a scheduled meeting at the White House in response to Trump's ordering the building of a wall between the [End Page 155] United States and Mexico, by Friday, the nation's focus shifted (Ahmed 2017). That afternoon, flanked by an applauding Vice President Mike Pence and then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, Trump shut down entry to immigrants and refugees in what has been variously labeled a Muslim ban, a travel ban, and a refugee ban. Trump accomplished this via his third executive order targeting immigrants, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," which he signed shortly after issuing a statement noting January 27 to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a choice of timing described as "offensive" and "repulsive" (Koran 2017; Shear and Cooper 2017; Exec. Order No. 13769). "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry" The order invoked the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, stated that "[n] umerous foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2011," and indicated that it is the policy of the United States "to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes" (Exec. Order No. 13769 §§ 1-2). In order to accomplish this goal, the order suspended the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants (temporary visitors) from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for a period of ninety days, with an invitation to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to submit "names of additional countries recommended for similar treatment" (§ 3(f)). At the same time, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was suspended for 120 days; upon the resumption of that program, refugee claims "made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality" were to be prioritized (§ 5(b)). The Order then indefinitely suspended the entry of any Syrian refugees as "detrimental to the interests of the United States" (§ 5(c)). President Obama's allocation of 110,000 refugees for fiscal year 2017 was cut by more than half, to 50,000, and "any such entry" of refugees was to be suspended "until such time as I determine that additional...