USU students react to President Trump’s first week
Editor’s Note: This story was written by Shelby Stoor, in conjunction with Kortni Wells. Special thanks to the efforts of the entire Student Life team.
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order Friday, Jan 27 blocking individuals, including Syrian refugees, from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
This action lit a match that soon turned into a raging fire of angry protests around the world.
Students at Utah State University reacted in a variety of ways after hearing the news. Many are angry and fearful, while others feel this will lead to a safer future for Americans everywhere.
Kiah Venzon is one of many USU students who was deeply upset when she heard about the executive order.
“I think that it shouldn’t be there because I feel like America is about something else. I don’t feel like there should be a separation. People should be able to come in and enjoy the things that America has to offer,” Venzon said.
Jackson Ward also feels the immigration and refugee ban is not what America stands for.
“I don’t know what I did to be born in a country like America. I lived in Nicaragua and saw poverty everywhere. Why did they get born in that situation and I was born into such a great situation where I’m free and have rights?” he said.
Ward said he feels we should open the gates for everyone to come in, so that they have the opportunity to build their American dream.
“You could try really hard in a place like Nicaragua and not get a better situation because there’s no resources. But here you really have the resources to do whatever you want and get the American dream,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want criminals in but I think there’s some way we could keep criminals out but still let people in.”
Makena Osborne is one USU student who feels like this is very similar to a past historical event.
“I am very against the ban. Being LDS, my religion was persecuted and members of my faith were driven from their homes, terrorized, and treated horribly,” she said. “American governors signed extermination orders to get rid of Mormons, who were just there living their religion and doing no harm. I feel the same way about the Muslim ban.”
Osborne acknowledges that protecting our country from religious extremists is important, but she believes they aren’t just coming from the seven specified countries.
“Yes, there are extremists that can do bad things, but there are also home-grown American extremists right here that can do bad things as well. There is absolutely no reason to ban a religion from our country, which was founded on principles of religious freedom,” Osborne said. “America used to be a place where religious freedom was a solid principle, laid out in the Constitution, and now our current political leaders are twisting that founding principle.”
Nelda Ault, program director for the Val R. Christensen Service Center, has the opportunity to work with refugees at the Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection on a regular basis.
“I can only speak to the refugees that I know and work with. Sudan is the only one of the targeted countries that we are working with people from and they’re not going back,” Ault said. “If they do want to travel, they’ll travel to a surrounding country like Egypt or Chad because that’s where their family fled to anyway. The refugee story is about trying to be safe and about family. And this messes both of those things up.”
Ault recognizes the media’s portrayal of the executive order may not be the most accurate source. For this reason, she conducted some of her own research.
“It makes me feel sad and frustrated. I tried to read about it as much as I could and was luckily able to find the full text. The full text says something, but the marketing says something else and that is what frustrates me the most,” she said. “It’s built on stereotype. It’s a very slanted way of portraying a global group that not everyone fits into what the marketing is saying about it. People just accept that as the message and it’s not always necessarily true.”
Brayden Spencer feels that the executive order is not a good representation of all that America represents.
“That’s not what America is. America is a melting pot of all civilizations and you can’t ban anybody, otherwise you change the epitomy of America. Keeping anybody out of any country without any real reason is not right,” Spencer said. “If you want to prevent terrorism, you’d have to remove all human beings from the United States. Terrorism is an act. It has nothing to do with culture.”
Professor David Lewis feels this new ban makes us look bad to the rest of the world, and frankly, it assists ISIS.
“As a historian, I see the nation as a nation of immigrants. My family was immigrants, your family was immigrants. We have always feared newcomers and outsiders but ultimately the strength of our nation has been enhanced by that diversity,” he said. “The knowledge, the wealth, the commitment to work, the commitment to religious freedom, to democratic values, and even not democratic values. These people have enriched us.”
Lewis believes this is an act based on fear.
“It makes me sad that we have to learn this lesson again, and it makes me sad because we are learning it based on fear. You should never do things out of fear. That is the basis of human emotions and human reactions,” Lewis said.
Scott Pilling wishes he could offer the refugees some words of hope.
“Life isn’t always sweet and luscious. There are many people praying for you and doing everything they can to reach out. There are plenty of barriers that we will all need to climb, but the biggest barriers can only be climbed by the strongest of hearts,” Pilling said.
Although the majority of USU students are frustrated with the decision, there are some students that support it and feel this decision will keep Americans more safe.
Alex Murl is one student who feels the media may be skewing the perspective of some people.
“It’s hard with a lot of politics nowadays, especially things involved with Trump, there is a lot of very heated news that’s not actual news. It’s hard to find out what is right and what is people just being reactionary,” Murl said.
Murl believes the executive order was issued for the right reasons.
“I think the intent of the order is good. I think it’s intended to just keep people safe. But it maybe could have been done in a better way,” Murl said.
Shand Hardy is another USU student who feels the order is not as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
“I’m not super into politics but I’ve probably had less negative feelings towards Trump as a person compared to most. Before this past week, I’ve had pretty positive feelings about what he was going to do. This is something a lot of people are reacting negatively to right away because it’s something that hasn’t been done for a long time,” Hardy said.
Hardy thinks President Trump had some valid reasons for making this decision, even though he believes it could have been handled differently.
“I’m sure there’s reasoning behind it although I’m not sure this was the best way to go about it. I think it will just be a good thing for them to take this time to figure out how to better control the situation. I don’t think this is the best answer for the long time, but I think it will be better to figure out what needs to be done,” Hardy said.
Francisco Story believes the executive order being issued was a necessary act.
“Well first I have to put out that the president has classified information on these countries he has banned immigration from that we don’t know about. With that being said, these seven countries are the biggest areas where terrorists are coming from. He never said he was going to put a permanent ban but a temporary one,” Story said.
Story thinks having this temporary ban will allow the government to improve the immigration screening process.
“I think this is a great idea so that the department of homeland security can improve their screening process when accepting immigrants from these areas. It makes our country safer and less susceptible to terrorists coming from these places and trying to cause harm. I believe that this will definitely help us,” Story said.
Millions of people across the world have taken this issue personally and feel the order should be reversed. Millions of others support the decision and believe this will keep the American people safer. Such division at USU, in the U.S. and throughout the world leads many people to wonder what President Trump will do next.
— shelbstoor11@aggiemail.usu.edu
@shelbstoor11
— kortni.marie.wells@aggiemail.usu.edu
@KortniWells