Donald Trump's Immigration Ban

One of the major events on the news right now is Donald Trump's decision to restrict immigration from seven Muslim countries.  

I also know that there have been lots of debate in the world about allowing refugees from the Middle East to move through Europe.  Letting immigrants and refugees in feels like the right thing to do, but many countries think it's a bad idea simply because refugees are so needy that accepting them into your country can be really expensive.  Also, there have been terrorist attacks in lots of places over the last year.  One I can remember happened in Paris.

That's super interesting to me largely because in Social Studies, we've spent the better part of the last two weeks talking about all of the different ways that immigration has helped society.  Ideas travel around the world as a result of immigration -- so shutting down immigration also means shutting down the movement of ideas.

It's also interesting to me because we've spent part of our time in Social Studies specifically studying Islam and the Muslim World.  What I've learned is that there are tons of important inventions and ideas that have come to "The Western World" from Muslim scholars and historians and experts.

What I'm wondering about right now is:

  • Has the Muslim world changed somehow?  Are today's Muslims different from yesterday's?  Does that make accepting Muslims into our country less safe than maybe it was before?
  • Will the United States be harmed by refusing to allow people and ideas from Muslim countries to come to our country?
  • Is Donald Trump's decision one that I should support or oppose?





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