Tweet
© Getty
A few days ago, a 29-year-old terrorist drove a rented pickup truck down a busy bicycle path in New York City, killing eight people and injuring a dozen more. The terrorist, a native of Uzbekistan, came to the United States in 2010 through the Diversity Visa Program (program) according to press reports. Uzbekistan is a large, majority-Muslim country located north of Afghanistan.
The next day, President Donald Trump said he wants congress to terminate the program.
Trump is not the first to want to end this program, and it is not just a partisan desire. The bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744, that the Senate passed in 2013 would have ended the program if it had not been rejected on other grounds in the House.
S.744 was introduced by “the Gang of 8,” which included Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), author of the original DREAM Act; and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
What is the Diversity Visa Program?
Read more at http://thehill.com/opinion/immigrati...gram-has-to-go
Published originally on The Hill.
About the author. Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years; he subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.
When you compare Trump to Hitler with your hate-filled condemnations of his immigration policies, you aren't just addressing him. Your condemnations apply to everyone who agrees with his policies.
And before Trump came on the scene, you were doing the same thing to republicans who want the immigration laws of our countries enforced.
Sadly though, you aren't the only one who is doing this. The democrats have been relying on ad hominem attacks for a long time now.
You are destroying the right to free speech by treating people who disagree with you that way.
Nolan Rappaport
And, again with the highest respect for Nolan and his distinguished record of immigration law scholarship and advocacy, I would point out that our discussion is by no means limited to immigration enforcement, important as it is, but also includes proposals to make radical changes in existing immigration laws - such as by promoting the RAISE Act, abolishing the DV lottery - the subject of Nolan's above article - reducing family immigration and refugee admissions, among other proposals - all of which would have their greatest impact on immigration from non-white parts of the world.
I am advocating in favor of preserving America's legal immigration system essentially as it is (with of course a number of tweaks - such as a lot more H-1B visas - yes we do need more high skilled immigration - and this is a good way to accomplish that without penalizing refugees or immigrants from poorer countries who may not be able to afford a PH.D from Oxford or the University of Paris).
Whatever negative terms anyone who opposes my views on this may want to use, such individual or individuals are of course free to do so.
That is what democracy means.
Roger Algase
Attorney at Law
Roger, the difference is that if I am right, your comments are destructively shutting off free discussion, but if I am wrong, I am just wrong.
Nolan Rappaport