By Edmond Y. Azadian
Armenia and America have a common issue: migration, but in reverse order. Armenia has a problem of emigration and America has a problem of immigration. The first cannot stop the outflow of its people and the latter cannot halt the influx of people.
Enter President Donald Trump. He has a spectacular solution for this, as in everything else. Before hitting the first 100 days in his presidency, Mr. Trump is still in the mood and temperament of his TV show, “The Apprentice,” where the name of the game is the element of suspense.
Early on, he got into a fight with our peaceful neighbor to the south, Mexico, which is one of America’s major trade partners. He threatened to do away with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which incidentally affects Canada, another major US trading partner. He tried to impose his view of America’s security on the Mexicans, vowing to build a wall to be underwritten by the government of Mexico. The Mexican government predictably said “no.”
His bold policy statements are gradually meeting reality; he has not yet mobilized the fleet of buses and boats to deport overnight 11 million undocumented aliens, nor has he moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which he had promised to do on his first day in office. He has softened his stance on Israeli West Bank settlements, which he finally realized were not “useful” for the peace process.
But his spectacular game to keep some of the Muslim refugees is still in progress. Indeed, the president issued an executive order to ban the influx of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. But his order did not remain unchallenged. Judge James Robert of the Federal District Court in Seattle overturned the president’s order, thus allowing immigrants temporarily barred to enter the country. The case brought by Washington State was immediately joined by Minnesota.
