The Hampton Script

Amanda Jones | Staff Writer

Mahmoud Hassan is an 18-year-old from Damascus, Syria who this year received an acceptance letter to attend the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology next fall. However on Jan. 28, President Trump signed an executive order calling for an immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

NPR reported, “The ban of people traveling from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia is slated to last for 90 days. In addition, new refugee admissions are suspended for 120 days and Syrian refugees are banned indefinitely.”

Nycole White, a freshman Criminal Justice major from St. Louis, said, “I definitely think [the ban] is a detriment to the protection of foreigners.”

The ban, one of numerous orders and memorandums issued by Trump following his late January inauguration, calls for a suspension of the U. S Refugees Admissions Program, which initially was instituted to provide referrals for admission for refugees into the United States.

In terms of the ban, President Trump in Section 2 of the order states, “It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

Qur’Annah Jones a freshman psychology major from Chicago, said, “It is not fair and seeing how domestic terrorism is prevalent/ ongoing, the ban is stupid.” The ban is effecting more than malevolent terrorists.

Students, families and universities have come out expressing their concern for the new order. Carnegie Mellon University and MIT are among the two universities that have addressed the immigration ban.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif and Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh are both immigrants. Reif writes, “The Statue of Liberty is the ‘Mother of Exiles,’ how can we slam the door on desperate refugees,” Reif said, “Religious liberty is a founding American value; how can our government discriminate against people of any religion.”

Both presidents are currently fighting to prevent the effects the ban may have on students, faculty, and the universities.

This ban also effects many U.S immigrant citizens and visa holders. With the limitations of the order, there is no release of what Hassan plans to do next.