During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated the idea of conducting “extreme vetting” of new immigrants. Now that he has been re-elected, he may try to make his ideas a reality.
republican party platform President Trump has said, “I want to keep foreign communists, Marxists, and socialists who hate Christianity out of the United States.'' The president-elect has not yet laid out practical steps on how to accomplish this, but he and his advisers would be wise to abandon the project altogether.
I myself disagree with communists, Marxists, and socialists, but “extreme” ideological screening of immigrants is a fundamentally authoritarian practice, promoting the very ideas the policy claims to oppose. I also know that it is meant to be done. The new Trump administration should continue the current system, which focuses on vetting actual national security threats rather than monitoring newcomers for ideas the government may not like.
Ideological screening is not simply an immigration policy that affects new arrivals. This is a sweeping concession of government power that also affects the American people by giving the government the power to police ideas and decide which ideology is correct, and by abandoning core American values.
It is legal and appropriate to vet actual criminals and terrorists who engage in violent acts, and current federal law excludes members of authoritarian political parties and terrorists, especially those whose purpose is to harm Americans. This problem is addressed by doing this.
But President Trump's policies go far beyond that. The system is also intended to protect America from becoming like the countries some immigrants came from: authoritarian, left-wing regimes that exercise censorship and disdain democracy. It is believed that immigrants will turn America into the place they fled.
But foreign-born citizens typically come to the United States to enjoy freedom, not to recreate the regime they fled. And people aren't deciding to think a certain way based on where they're from or their race, like President Trump is. recent successes At the Latino Voter Show.
New immigrants despite Trump and others claimedunless you are naturalized, you have no power to vote, run for office, or make any concrete political changes (this process takes years and is not mandatory). This fact makes ideological scrutiny even more important for Americans who already vote, are elected, and can implement real change. If the government becomes a thought police, it will ultimately be concerned with eradicating supposedly evil ideas from those who can actually make a difference, using tools such as censorship and media regulation. Probably.
Freedom of speech and thought are fundamental American values, as protected by the Constitution. By not accepting immigrants, we betray our core principles. Giving the government permission to police these things for immigrants would abandon the universality of those rights and endanger them for Americans as well.
Many governments have claimed the power to decide what is the “right” idea and eradicate the “wrong” ideas. Current examples include Venezuela, Cuba, and China. All these regimes are based on thought control. control the press and suppressed dissent. they are control What people can see and share online. and they Exclusive About the education instilled in students. All this is done in the name of protecting the government's chosen ideology.
It is no coincidence that immigrants escape those systems and live freely in America. However, implementing ideological controls would bring the United States even closer to the authoritarianism of these regimes.
There are people (foreign or native-born) who actually hate America, and many actually aspire to and attempt to harm Americans, such as interfering with elections or overthrowing the government. . The government has a duty to protect the rights of Americans by screening foreign agents, terrorists, spies, and others who actively seek to harm the United States and its institutions.
But to violate the rights of Americans through action and force and to try to impose certain ideas, no matter how morally horrifying or perverse those ideas, and by believing in those ideas. It is different from expressing. Governments must stop people from attacking others, their property, and violating their rights. That is how we support and protect individual freedom. It's also part of what current law already does to deny people who seek to harm America.
Ideas are powerful, and bad ideas can be dangerous. However, it is not the government's role to eradicate them, but the people's. It is the responsibility of every American to use the tools provided by a free society and the Constitution to counter ideas they deem evil, to ostracize those they deem immoral, and to counter bad ideas with better ideas.
If Americans want to protect America's core values, they should reject thought control and oppose extreme ideological screening of immigrants on principle.
Agustina Vergara SidI am a Young Voices contributor.
