# Can Donald Trump ban Muslims from entering the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428 "2017-02-10T00:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/1 "2017-02-10T00:20:23Z")
How would you write an Executive Order for Donald Trump refusing Muslims entry to the US that would pass Constitutional muster? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/2 "2017-02-10T00:29:01Z")
It’s not likely that you could. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/3 "2017-02-10T00:29:22Z")
I’m not a lawyer but I feel like even if the President succeeded in making a case that his act of exclusion doesn’t run afoul of the 1st Amendment because the people it targets are not citizens, since there are already Muslim citizens with family abroad, I feel like they would have standing to declare that they are impacted by the restriction and so, as citizens, their 1st Amendment right was being infringed. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/4 "2017-02-10T00:43:50Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > How would you write an Executive Order for Donald Trump refusing Muslims entry to the US that would pass Constitutional muster? IMHO the horse was put before the cart. This should had been priority #1 in the new congress by reviewing and putting new vetting rules/laws in place and then Trump can make and sign the EO that would target the bad people from those countries. Not the abortion that we got that ended targeting already vetted green card holders and refugees. An EO that affected, as it was shown, people that are important not only for the American economy, but important for science and even people of those troubled nations that are risking their lives to help America fight ISIS. ---
**Author:** ![Barack\_Obama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Barack\_Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barack_Obama)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/5 "2017-02-10T00:55:12Z")
Prove muslims from specific countries are the major source of terrorist actions. Hell just lie about the damn thing. Tell the public muslims from countries ABC are statistically prone to radicialization and previous intelligences say these people are planning attacks on American soil actively. and the only way to stop this from happening is banning people with certain ideologies from coming into the US. Seems pretty simple to me. If your means can’t justify the ends then you’re probably doing something wrong. Edit: For the sake of putting it out there. I think if you’re really going to propose further vetting or temporary bans then you should also consider cutting ties with Syrian oil and discontinue fuelign the war machine in the middle east. Just propose systematic relief programs to change their governments over time. Engaging in the arguments only causes further conflict, the least the US can do is stop fueling it even if it costs lives. Lives will be spent either way. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/6 "2017-02-10T02:33:42Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > IMHO the horse was put before the cart. This should had been priority #1 in the new congress by reviewing and putting new vetting rules/laws in place and then Trump can make and sign the EO that would target the bad people from those countries. > > Not the abortion that we got that ended targeting already vetted green card holders and refugees. An EO that affected, as it was shown, people that are important not only for the American economy, but important for science and even people of those troubled nations that are risking their lives to help America fight ISIS. So basically you are saying that the visa/refugee process already in place is fine and Trump is just making noise so as to be seen as doing something. Of course, he failed miserably. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/7 "2017-02-10T02:59:51Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So basically you are saying that the visa/refugee process already in place is fine . . . . It may or may not be fine. If it’s not fine it may need analysis and revision. That would be Trump’s job. > [@Monty](#): > > . . . .and Trump is just making noise so as to be seen as doing something. Of course. Remember, Trump is going to run the presidency like a business, and his business is reality television. So it’s all about the dramatic moment, the big reveal, the engineered conflict. Actually effecting change is not part of the business model. > [@Monty](#): > > Of course, he failed miserably. That depends on what you think he was trying to do. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/8 "2017-02-10T03:52:45Z")
We have historical examples where you can ban ethnic groups: > [@](#): > > The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US–China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. > **[Chinese Exclusion Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act)** > > The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplomats. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major U.S. law ever implemented to prevent all members of a specific national group from immigrating to the United States, and therefore helped shape twentieth-century race-based immigration policy.\[ Pa... Or more recently: > [@](#): > > The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census, down from the 3% cap set by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which used the Census of 1910. The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans, especially Italians and Eastern European Jews.[1][2][3] In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of Africans and outright banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians. > **[Immigration Act of 1924](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924)** > > The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. It also authorized the creation of the country's first formal border control service, the U.S. Border Patrol, and established a "consular control system" that allowed Enact... There have not been any amendments to the Constitution affecting immigration since these laws were passed (and these met Constitutional requirements). The President cannot issue any executive order that he wants; it must be consistent with the laws Congress passes. So all I think Trump has to do is to get Congress to pass the appropriate legislation to prevent the issuance of visas to what he considers undesirables. Much of the problem arises because he tried to prevent people coming in who already had visas. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/9 "2017-02-10T04:03:00Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > We have historical examples where you can ban ethnic groups Yes, yes we do. Hell, we even banned Mormon immigrants at one point. What part/s of the constitution **are** people thinking about when they say a ban is “unconstitutional!!”? The only unconstitutional part of Trump’s ban is not letting citizens back into the country after traveling abroad. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-donald-trump-ban-muslims-from-entering-the-us/779428/10 "2017-02-10T04:07:54Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > We have historical examples where you can ban ethnic groups . . . Well, except the OP doesn’t talk about a ban on an ethnic group, but a religiously-defined ban. I don’t think Congress has ever attempted to ban a religiously-defined group from entering, and obviously there’s that whole tiresome “Congress shall make no law abridging the free exercise of religion” business to negotiate. Yes, I get that you could try to get around this by writing the law so that it only banned Muslim non-citizens, and then arguing that the First Amendment does not protect non-citizens. But, still, I think it introduces a dimension that isn’t present with a purely ethnic ban, where the principal objection is the Fourteenth Amendment, which on the face of it only protects citizens and persons already within the jurisdiction of the US. There’s no such express limitation in the First Amendment.