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CAMRY DEAN
Staff Writer
On Dec. 7, 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for the U.S. to bar all Muslims from entering the country.
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” he said during a press conference on the campaign trail.
As the candidate that previously recommended the surveillance of mosques and a Muslim registry, one of the first executive orders as president was a 120 day ban of refugees coming from the Muslim-majority countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, which was signed into action on Jan. 27. The ban on refugees from Syria is indefinite.
As of Feb. 4, Trump’s ban was blocked by Federal Judge James Robart from Seattle.
After the national block, the Department of Justice filed an appeal to reinstate and put an emergency stay on the ban but was denied on Feb. 5.
Though the administration insists it isn’t a “Muslim ban,” Trump said that Christian refugees would be a priority in a Jan. 27 interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Soon after the order was signed, fear and confusion struck thousands of people across the United States as the order was affecting those with valid visas and green cards, as well as dual citizens and legal residents. Countless individuals and families were being detained in airports and barred from re-entering their home country.
On Feb. 4, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had suspended “any and all actions” related to Trump’s executive order, according to The Hill.
The U.S. already has one of the most rigorous vetting process for refugees that takes 18 to 24 months. According to the U.N., 800 refugees, who had already gone through the process, were banned from entering the U.S. under the order by Feb. 4.
State Universities of New York accept 22,140 international students from 180 countries, including 600 students from the seven counties included in the ban.
Professor Czerton Lim of the Theatre and Dance Department has been wearing his “identity” around his neck in response to the ban, hoping to put a face to refugees and to humanize the problem.
“As an immigrant, I am fully aware of what it takes to enter this country legally and the privilege of becoming a U.S citizen,” Lim wrote in a campus-wide email. “This takes time, energy and patience, so I speak for those who waited in line, who filled out the paperwork, who put in the time, who were ‘vetted,’ who sacrificed to get in line, who are fleeing horrendous conditions to apply to enter this country only to be denied due process with the flick of a pen.
“I am speaking for those who have no voice because I have mine.”
Wearing a laminated poster around his neck that reads “I am an (legal) immigrant,” Lim hopes to encourage conversation about refugees, immigrants and diversity as a whole.
“My intention was never to turn it into a campaign,” Lim said in an interview. “This is a personal statement from my part, just making sense of what has happened. My intention was to express my dissent with those decisions and a way to personalize the issue in terms of making it less abstract and making it about real people, i.e. me.”
Students of Professor Lim have already started “wearing their identities” in his classes to further the conversation about immigration and inclusivity.
Over the past week, a countless number of stories have flooded the media of people with green cards, valid visas and dual-citizenship not being able to return back to the U.S. after being out of the country.
A Ph.D student at Stony Brook University, a SUNY school, was detained at John F. Kennedy Airport on her way back to school and was held for almost 24 hours. According to BBC Correspondent Bahmen Kalbasi, Vahideh Rasekhi was set to be deported to Istanbul, Turkey after spending winter break in Iran but, with the help of lawyers, was not deported and spent hours in detainment.
In an email from the SUNY Student Association, student leaders from all SUNY campuses voiced their opposition to the executive order and their support to the students affected.
“The President’s Executive Order halting the legal immigration and free movement of refugees and citizens of several Muslim-majority countries to enter our own, a country of immigrants, is discriminatory and wrong,” the email wrote. “We, the elected leaders from across the 64 campuses of largest system of public colleges and universities in the country, stand united in our shame of this hateful decision.”
President Virginia Horvath has been encouraging dialogue and offering support for students, faculty and staff who are discouraged or scared about how the ban will affect them, one example being the peaceful gathering held on Feb. 2 in Reed Library.
“We want to emphasize the importance in our institutions of diversity to support our international students and to keep on top of details so we know exactly how it will affect people,” Horvath said. “That’s really all we can say at this point because we don’t have many details and what we knew originally has changed. It’s a confusing time for a lot of people.”
The Office of International Education and Human Resources are available on campus for students who are concerned about what the ban means for them and their travels.
The Provost and Vice President for Student Affairs are currently working on ways to open a dialogue about diversity at Fredonia and the executive order.
“Don’t withdraw. Don’t assume you’re alone,” Horvath said. “Reach out to each other. Don’t stay up all night reading the news. If you have a visa status and you’re worried, there are people on campus to talk to. There are people to reach out to to talk about this, even if we don’t much information. Just keep talking to each other.”