World Post: Entry Ban Punishes Citizens, Not Government

A blanket ban on traveling from seven countries is targeting many accomplished individuals who have already demonstrated deep appreciation for the United States by working with the US military or providing public service as research professors or physicians. In an essay for the World Post, Jamsheed K. Choksy and Carol E. B. Choksy agree that the government of Iran, for example, has supported attacks on the United States and Israel: “But it is unfair and unwise to equate an authoritarian state to its citizens. The vast majority of Iranians cannot be held accountable for the terrorist deeds of a few fundamentalist clerics, anti-western politicians, and fanatical fighters.” Hardliners and extremists welcome the ban as a recruiting tool. The writers offer a concise profile of modern-day Iranians and Iranian Americans who resist Iran’s hardline policies. The rate of crimes and terrorist activity among immigrant groups in the United States is low, and this is especially true of those with Iranian backgrounds who instead “contribute immensely to the economic, social, religious, ethnic, and intellectual progress of the US.” – YaleGlobal