Andrew McCarthy, the incompetent former federal prosecutor who screwed up and failed to protect sensitive information in a civil trial for a terrorist and now uses his own screw up as evidence that the courts can’t handle sensitive information, has jumped on the no Muslim immigration bandwagon:
At the very least, our immigration laws should exclude entry from Muslim-majority countries unless and until those countries expressly repeal repressive sharia laws (e.g., the death penalty for apostates) and adopt American standards of non-discrimination against, tolerance of, and protection for religious minorities.
I’m all for those countries repealing their repressive laws, which are utterly barbaric. But it apparently hasn’t occurred to McCarthy that a lot of the people emigrating to America from those countries are doing so precisely to escape such laws. The evidence shows that Muslim immigrants to America are, by a huge margin, not in favor of such laws and are well integrated into society, including its legal norms. There are exceptions, of course, but there are exceptions among Christians too and no one would suggest we ban Christian immigration.
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MikeMa
March 5, 2012 at 10:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The idea of banning immigration based on religion undermines the freedom we seek to uphold in America. Can we deport McCarthy?
Canadian Yankee
March 5, 2012 at 10:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
By this same logic we should stop accepting Cuban immigrants until the Castro regime falls and Cuba is democratic. Otherwise, every refugee who lands on Florida’s shores brings his or her Communist, one-party dictatorship ways into the US and eventually democracy will be doomed!
gingerbaker
March 5, 2012 at 10:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“The idea of banning immigration based on religion undermines the freedom we seek to uphold in America.”
Does it? Hasn’t it been done in the past? I seem to remember something about Jews and the Holocaust, but I could be mistaken.
And political ideas also seem to be historically valid criteria for denial of entry into the States. We have had quotas for entry based on various criteria for a very long time. Should there be no quotas? And if there are quotas, why would religious philosophy – especially if it had a commitment to theocracy a/or subjugation of women – not be a valid criteria?
AJS
March 5, 2012 at 10:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The USA banning immigration depending upon the immigrant’s religion ….. does this dildo really not see the irony of that?
sumdum
March 5, 2012 at 10:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How about the US also repeals the death penalty ? Lead by example and all that. Although in this case the US would be trailing behind the rest of the civilized world.
jesse
March 5, 2012 at 10:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Speaking as one whose own family was involved in this very issue…
Political affiliation would be dicey, as there have been attempts to deport people based on that and the courts weren’t having it. I think there is here a problem in distinguishing the different flavors of immigration.
Asylum seekers, for instance, would be, under McCarthy’s rubric, banned. You can see the problem here. The U.S. hasn’t been too upset about people immigrating from countries whose political philosophy us undemocratic, as long as they are countries we don’t like.
For instance, during the Cold War all I had to do was say I was defecting and any European from Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, whatever was accepted.
But if I came from El Salvador fleeing death squads, not so much.
A Saudi claiming asylum here is 50-50. A Syrian? Instant green card. Chinese guy comes over and says he is a persecuted Christian, and he gets approved. A Pakistani shows up and says he is a union member and will be killed if he goes back, <50-50.
Saying you won't accept someone because of their political philosophy of the country they are in seems pretty silly. The only area I can think of where the US does it is asking if you were a Nazi or involved in one of the associated governments on the immigration form. They used to ask if you were a member of the Communist party too.
richardelguru
March 5, 2012 at 10:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“no one would suggest we ban Christian immigration”
I would… we should only allow good honest atheists in, until we are in the majority and … Bwahahahaha!
(Sorry I’m not very good at evil laughs. :-( )
d cwilson
March 5, 2012 at 10:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Does he know that “Muslim-majority” doesn’t mean 100% of the population is Muslim? Beleive it or not, many Muslim-majority countries have sizable Christain, Jewish, and/or Hindu populations. So, if a Hindu or Christian from say, Pakistan, wants to emigrate to the US, McCarthy would say, “Sorry, even though you don’t actually practice Islam, because your country is an Islamic republic, you can’t come in.”
MikeMa
March 5, 2012 at 11:21 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@gingerbaker,
The US has used many criteria to limit immigration. What I object to here is the blanket assumption that all Muslims are evil theocrats bent on Destroying Amerika with Sharia(TM). I have no problem rejecting individuals based on clear criteria, just not whole groups like this suggestion.
Chiroptera
March 5, 2012 at 11:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There are exceptions, of course, but there are exceptions among Christians too and no one would suggest we ban Christian immigration.
Forced Christian emmigration, on the other hand….
No, no, it’s only a joke. I wouldn’t wish our clowns on the other countries.
raven
March 5, 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You mean xianity, expecially the fundie death cult variety?
I don’t think that is going to work in the USA right now.
LOL, my first thought. For the record, I do not support forced emigration of fundie xians. No one wants them anyway and it would just cause problems between the USA and the rest of the world. The last time this was tried, the Puritans exterminated the native peoples and then started killing each other in witch hunts.
Many hope for the Rapture to occur so we could wave bye bye and cheer as they float off into sky, a sort of Cosmic Forced Emigration. It hasn’t worked yet though.
However, it would fix things if the fundie xian Dominionists would find a xian Theocracy somewhere, join it, and leave the rest of us and our country alone. Unfortunately among 250 countries, the only xian theocracy is the Vatican and the Pope doesn’t like fundies. It’s a win win strategy. I could see a fund raising drive to buy some small country somewhere and give them all one way tickets.
Wes
March 5, 2012 at 11:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So we should discriminate against religious minorities until other countries agree to stop discriminating against religious minorities. Gotcha.
tommykey
March 5, 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What I wouldn’t mind seeing is countries having to be certified for taking steps to protect religious minorities and religious pluralism in order to be allowed to export their goods to the United States at preferential tariff rates and so forth.
Chiroptera
March 5, 2012 at 3:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The evidence shows that Muslim immigrants to America are, by a huge margin, not in favor of such laws and are well integrated into society, including its legal norms.
Well, that’s precisely the problem right there. How can the Fascist Right be expected to scare the public into voting for them if their preferred boogymen continue to act like decent, law-abiding residents?
Homo Straminus
March 5, 2012 at 5:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jesse@6: “A Saudi claiming asylum here is 50-50. A Syrian? Instant green card.”
I know it wasn’t the point of your comment, but in 2008 Reason pointed out the absolute myth of the “instant green card” unless you fit a very narrow range of criteria (rich; a genius; family member of a citizen; and such). You can view the graph (PDF) here.
apoetinindia
May 24, 2012 at 9:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
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workouts for men
March 12, 2012 at 11:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
workouts for men…
[...]McCarthy: Ban Muslim Immigration | Dispatches from the Culture Wars[...]…