Trump nightmare for Muslims may become a reality for Indians too
In Trump Revealed, the timely biography by The Washington Post journalists, Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher recall Donald J Trump's roots. Roots that he contests.
They write about the stormy vessel ride undertaken by one Mary Anne Mcleod, on January 17, 1930, following the dark days of the Great Depression, from a destitute island of Tong in Scotland. Even as the US was closing its doors on several others, it welcomed British whites like Mary.
Mary, an attractive young woman with fair skin and blue eyes, appears to have been on her own, filing on board between the McIntoshes and McGraths and McBrides. She called herself a "domestic", a catchall for "maid", or whatever other labor she might find once she reached New York. She told immigration officials at Ellis Island that she planned to stay in Queens with her older sister, Catherine, who had married and just given birth to a baby boy. Mary declared that she planned to be a permanent resident, hoping to gain citizenship in her adopted land. (Page 20)
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| His ban on immigrants only added to the perplexity. (Credit: Reuters photo) |
On Trump side of the family, the authors write about Friedrich Trumph or Trump who crossed the ocean onboard the SS Eider on October 19, 1885, reaching New York from Kallstadt in the Rhine Valley in Germany.
The young 16-year-old barber, despite being an illegal immigrant was allowed in by American immigration law that preferred Germans as having "the proper white European ethnic stock and industrious nature". A million Germans, including Friedrich, entered the land of the free in 1885, highest in a year ever.
Then, in 1914, World War-I broke out, and suddenly Trump and hundreds of thousands of others with German ancestry became targets of their own government. A German-American newspaper, the Fatherland, ran a 1915 cover story titled, "Are Hyphenated Citizens Good Americans?" — a question that many unhyphenated citizens were asking at that time. A government-sanctioned volunteer group called the American Protective League, with 250,000 members, spied on German-Americans amid growing fear that the immigrant families were working for their fatherland and against their newer homeland.
Soon, use of German was discouraged, and many Germanic names were Americanised. The tone was set from the top. On June 14, 1917, two months after the United States entered World War-I, President Woodrow Wilson declared, "The military masters of Germany (have) filled our unsuspecting communities with vicious spies and conspirators and sought to corrupt the opinion of our people." It was known as the Flag Day speech, a moment German Americans would long remember. (page 26)
Friedrich Trump survived the times and raised a family on American shores. His elder son Fred would eventually meet and marry Mary Anne Mcleod. On June 14, 1946 , the couple gave birth to their fourth child — Donald John Trump, grandson of Friedrich Trump. The Donald would in 2016 build an election campaign on the slogan of "Make America Great Again" and present the war cry of "America First, America First" on a cold wet morning on January 20, 2017, as he took oath as the 45th president of the United States.
Immigrants no more
Much water has flowed under the bridges in a fortnight since the White House welcomed its newest first family. The signing of an executive order amid other election promises, that suspended the US refugee programme for 120 days, clamped down on entry to Syrian refugees indefinitely and suspended entry of citizens from seven countries for 90 days, spiralled into fear, chaos and confusion. The initial order even included green card holders and legal residents from these countries, but was modified later.
"Trump's visa ban for Iranians is racist. Whether this will include a cultural event or not, I won't attend the #AcademyAwards 2017 in protest," tweeted Taraneh Alidoosti, 33-year-old leading actress of Iranian film The Salesman, nominated for the Best Foreign films Category at the Oscars to be held on February 26. Tehran lashed out with its own visa ban for Americans, but not in retrospect.
Tearful farewells, nervous anxiety and exasperation were witnessed at airports across the globe as people were detained at US airports or barred from boarding flights to the US elsewhere.
The Trump administration refuted strongly that it is a #MuslimBan. Trump told ABC News that the move targeted countries that "have tremendous terror". The temporary ban applies to seven Muslim majority nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
Of these countries, US-led forces are bombing four presently. And the 9/11 attackers that were US citizens or legal residents have no links to these banned countries. The absence of Pakistan, where US Navy SEALs hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden, from a list meant supposedly to enhance US homeland security was baffling.
But Donald Trump tweeted in his trademark aggressive style, "Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country."
Amrullah Saleh, former chief of the Afghan National Directorate of Security questions the logic behind the move. "None of the doers or masterminds of the 9/11 were from Afghanistan. We as a Muslim majority country are the hard-hit victims of terrorism. We are fighting a war with our flesh and bones which in the meantime is an American war. It would have truly made a deep and true sense if president Trump had put sanctions on Pakistan army or specific people in it," he says.
When Trump promised to "eradicate radical Islamic terrorism from the face of the earth" in his inaugural speech, there was no clarity if he would wage a war against ISIS or the safe havens of terrorism in more troubled zones like Af-Pak (Afghanistan and Pakistan).
His ban on immigrants only added to the perplexity.
"The United States of America is the holder of the largest amount of intelligence and know-how on terrorism, its roots, networks, movements and patterns. They should have used that intelligence and knowledge to design smart sanctions and smart action plans.
It seems that the executive orders are perhaps not based on advice from intelligence community. It is more of a political statement than security based action," adds Amrullah Saleh.
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| The Muslim community is asking whether this is really America? (Credit: Reuters photo) |
As civil society groups took to the streets, a dissent cable was sparked within the State Department with at least 1,000 foreign service career officers as signatories.
Eventually, federal judge James Robart (of Mexican origin), appointed by former Republican president George Bush, put a temporary restraining order on the Trump Executive Order.
A temporary relief for those travelling to the US from these countries, but were detained earlier at various airports. In a rare attack at a federal judge from a serving president, Trump hit back calling Robart a "so-called judge" in his tweet.
"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!" Trump tweeted.
The US Justice Department filed a motion against the restraining order and a federal circuit court of appeals has begun hearing if the Seattle court had the right to stay the executive order.
Trump supporters armed with statistics remind that Barack Obama was the "deporter-in-chief", deporting as many as 2.5 million illegal immigrants between 2009 and 2015.
Government data back the claim that these numbers are the highest ever in any American presidency.
They point out that Europe or Australia themselves have not been messiahs to the refugees. The Arab countries have maintained a conspicuous silence refusing to criticise Trump's move, even as the German chancellor and the Turkish president have hit out at the order.
According to the UN commission on refugees, UNHCR, of the world's total population of refugees and displaced, Middle East and North Africa take in the largest share of 39 per cent, followed by Africa at 29 per cent, Asia Pacific at 14 per cent. Europe provides shelter to only 6 per cent of the refugees while Americas take in 12 per cent of the population.
Dr Moeed Yusuf, a foreign policy expert of Pakistani-origin with a leading think tank in DC, says, "Any country ultimately has a right to decide on its immigration policy. But this has caused concern among the Muslim community and they are asking whether this is really America, the country that stands for global civil liberties and humans rights, and is this what it should be doing."
Despite the legal greys in the executive order, the fear of the Muslim community stems from the election campaign rallies wherein Trump would announce to cheering crowds, "Donald Trump calls for a complete and total shutdown of Muslim arrivals, till we figure out what the hell is happening."
Trump seemed true to his words as angry protestors took to the streets of America by the hundreds of thousands, numbers that seemed higher than Trump's inaugural day crowds.
The nightmare for Muslims in America could have serious consequences for the larger Asian community, including Indians.
Muslims, who had serious fears about the American president Trump's election rhetoric against immigrants, refugees and minorities, feel that the institutional checks and balances have not reigned in Trump from translating rhetoric to action.
Pointing at the Women's March and civil liberties group protests, Yusuf adds, "There is still the other America that gives hope." But cautions, "People are scared since it is a slippery slope where discrimination at airport handling, immigration in the name of vetting would increase. Once you empower institutions to be discriminatory, it does not stop. It would be a White versus Brown versus anything else — Sikhs, Muslims or others."
India watches Trump La La Land
India though continues to wait and watch as Trump turns on and off the faucets on allies and enemies alike.
Perhaps clarity on Trump's policy on terrorism in this region would be forthcoming in the possible scenario of a fresh terror strike on US soil, traced to Af-Pak.
But the executive orders on host of issues, including the immigration ban, drives home the point Trump is translating his controversial election rhetoric into political action.
He is being true to the constituency that voted him to power. And the election promises included curbs on outsourcing.
A legislation that seeks to curb H1-B and L1 visas is next on the menu that is giving Indian tech firms, techies and the South Block sleepless nights.
Vijay Chauthaiwale, head of the ruling BJP's foreign policy department, feels Indians will not really be affected with the immigration ban as it is the prerogative of governments to protect their borders. But he spells more caution on the H1-B visas row.
"With protectionist waves across the globe, countries such as India should be prepared for more domestic opportunities for Indian high-tech programmes," says Chauthaiwale.
What will Trump's next strike be? Will he win his first legal battle in federal court? Which election promise stands to be delivered next? Of all the unknown unknowns in Trump land , what is certain is the uncertainty will continue as the deal maker Trump pushes forward a new US foreign policy and realignments.
As Kranish and Fisher write in Trump Revealed: "By his own account, Trump's primary focus in elementary school was 'creating mischief because, for some reason, I liked to stir things up and I liked to test people...' It wasn't malicious so much as it was aggressive."
In Trump: The Art of the Deal, co-authored with Tony Schwartz and published in 1987, the real estate mogul wrote:
"The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies.
People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion."
In the land of Donald J Trump, expect the unexpected.