Sunday, February 12, 2017

On Trump's Immigration Executive Order, Wrong Question

Ever since a federal judge, James L. Robart, issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against President Trump's executive order (EO) temporarily suspending admissions of aliens from seven Middle Eastern countries, the question whether the President's EO was lawful or not has reached a heated national debate. Experts, pundits, and analysts, as well as civic organizations and governmental bodies, brought many arguments in favor and against the said EO. Some have tried to provide clarity to the context in which the question arose, while others tried to obfuscate it. What virtually all of them have missed is this simple fact: They have been debating the wrong question.

That's right, the question of whether the President's EO was lawful or not is a wrong question.

Trump's authority comes from Section (f) of 8 U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens, which states in unambiguous language that "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."

The right question that should have been asked was whether Judge Robart had the authority to issue the TRO and whether the said TRO was legally binding to the President. Neither answer is clear nor are they settled by a sound basis or valid legal reasoning (as opposed to, say, legalistic sophistry, court-approved or not).


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