Weighing in on Trump’s immigration order

To the editor:

Trump’s recent immigration order seems on the surface to be a good idea. It is not.

The order will cause collateral threats to our domestic and foreign security interests. First, American Muslims’ goodwill is critical to their willingness to cooperate with “law enforcement’. Second, leaders of Mideast Allies will face citizens who regard the U.S. as unfriendly to Muslims and won’t want to be seen working with the U.S. Third, troops working in Mideast countries will be put at risk. Fourth, terrorist groups want to convince their co-religionists that there is a war of civilizations and that America is the enemy. Trump’s policy and statements confirm this and make terrorist recruitment easier.

Since the executive order closing our borders to many Muslim immigrants increases rather than decreases threat levels to American citizens and troops, there are several disturbing possibilities. One is that the President and his advisors are incompetent. Another is that the President places politics over security. Statements by Trump about seizing Iraqi oil and his recent weakening of the National Security Council suggest that Trump wants to provoke terror attacks at home or abroad to gain emergency powers, which might advance his anti-democratic agenda.

Robert Dodson

Center Point