An arbitrary and vague executive order as that signed by the US president deeply affects the academic world, endangering the education of 12,269 Iranians who legally entered the United States and to which the right to study there could be denied.
In 1946, George Orwell wrote that a certain political language makes use (and abuse) of a «mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence». More than seventy years later, the American president Donald Trump seems to embody specifically those words.
Vagueness, arbitrariness and racism
In 2017, it happens that the man who lives in the White House has signed an executive order that suspends refugee admissions program for 120 days and prevents entry into the United States to citizens from seven Muslim countries (along with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) for 90 days from Friday, January 2017.
It happens that at the head of one of the most powerful nations in the world is a president who is very proud to seal his country borders to millions of citizens, de facto basing this decision on religion. Once submerged by criticism and international mobilizations, he wrote on Twitter: «Everyone 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 the country».
In the vagueness of GOP tycoon’s words, democracy and freedom lose all their meaning, behind the security“alibi”.
Discriminate all in the name of national security: the case of Iranians
It does not matter to be a refugee, an immigrant, a student or a professor. What matters, for instance, is having an Iranian passport and desiring to enter the United States.
At that point, every citizen is a potential terrorist or a danger to American security, at least according to Trump.
The problem is that the measure is so vague, as arbitrary. This means that the US reserves the right to evaluate «case by case» on those who have a regular residence permit, a green card, and does not constitute «a serious threat to public security», as the Department of Homeland Security clarified in a statement.
In a climate of unacceptable uncertainty, politics moves along a line of “ifs” and “buts”. It gives enormous power to local authorities who will assess a single case and, thus, decide whether and to whom to grant permission.
The emotional impact for families and the cruelty of a state of exception
Trump’s decision puts the lives of millions of workers, researchers, students in a state of exception, casting them over to the logic of «case-by-case». Therefore, in addition to a significant emotional impact for families, what is truly at risk is the so-called human capital of “muslim ban”.
«Even in Iran, you have this picture of America as a dreamland. But for people like me, this isn’t the America we imagined», an Iranian researcher, who was supposed to start a post-doc fellowship in Boston before being stopped at the airport because of the new order, told The Atlantic. It was «a shock (…) then extreme sadness, and a strong feeling that I have been discriminated against».
Thousands of students and researchers risking exclusion
If nothing changes, an arbitrary measure such as the one signed by Trump will jeopardize the education of 12,269 Iranians who legally entered the United States and to which the right to study could be denied.
According to the Institute of International Education data, in the last two years, registrations of Iranian students had increased by 8.2 percent: a real record in nearly three decades. Thanks to them and to all international students, the US economy had a positive impact, such as $ 35 billion in 2015.
Legitimizing hate: Trump’s new era
All this turmoil could end up in the name of a danger announced and a perceived threat.
The real problem is that the “Muslim ban” has legitimized discrimination and hatred based on religion, institutionalizing a regime of fear, giving credit to intolerance towards a perceived “Other”.
With Trump a new era is unfortunately starting, which is openly against Islam «that hates» – at least according to the president – and that is considered «a cancer» by his advisor for national security Michael Flynn.
An arbitrary and vague executive order as that signed by the US president deeply affects the academic world, endangering the education of 12,269 Iranians who legally entered the United States and to which the right to study there could be denied.
