Donald Trump wants to keep ‘communists’ and ‘Marxists’ out of the US; This is what the law says

The announcement was reminiscent of Trump’s ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries during his first term in office.

Washington: Donald Trump has announced a new campaign proposal on immigration in the United States – barring “communists” and “Marxists” from entering the country.

The Republican former president, who is running for another bid in 2024, said on Saturday he would use “Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act” to “order my administration to deny entry to all Communists and all Marxists.”

The announcement was reminiscent of Trump’s ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries during his first term, which was heavily criticized as anti-Muslim and eventually repealed by President Joe Biden.

“Those who come to enjoy our country must love our country,” Trump said during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington. America.”

He also said there should be a “new law” to appeal to communists and Marxists who grew up in America, but did not elaborate on what it would entail.

Trump’s proposal also raised questions about whether a decades-old law could actually be used to bar all communist and Marxist immigrants to the US, how it would work, and why Trump is so focused on these political theories in a country where few inhabitants support them. .

Here’s a look at existing US laws and what Trump’s proposal could look like:

WHAT DOES CURRENT US LAW SAY?

U.S. immigration law already prohibits people who belong to a communist party from becoming naturalized citizens or green card holders, said Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates for less immigration in the US

U.S. Immigration law says that any immigrant “…who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party (or part or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is not admissible.”

The origins of that rule date back to 1918, when the U.S. government began to worry about “external threats from anarchism and communism,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s policy manual. At that time, it was also the end of World War I, communism was taking root in the Soviet Union, and the country would soon impose strict immigration quotas on the US.

But it has some exceptions. For example, people who were required to join the Communist Party to get a job or if their membership was issued when they were under 16, according to the Immigration Code.

The ban does not currently apply to anyone who wants to visit the US, for example with a tourist visa or as a student.

During his speech, Trump said he would use a certain part of the US immigration law – Section 212(f) – to keep out “all communists and all Marxists.” That section gives broad authority to bar non-U.S. citizens from entering the country if their entry would be “prejudicial to the interests of the United States.”

IS THIS A PRECEDENT?

Trump’s comments about banning communists and Marxists hark back to one of his administration’s more controversial moves — often referred to by critics as a Muslim travel ban. Opponents cited Trump’s own tweets and rhetoric to argue that the travel ban discriminated against Muslims. But the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts said in majority opinion at the time that the judges did not weigh in on whether it was good policy, but that it fell well within the considerable authority of the US presidents on immigration and responsibility to keep the nation safe hold.

Arthur said that case was a key indicator that made him think Trump would have a good legal footing if he tried to bar Communists or Marxists from entering the US. Arthur also said that foreigners trying to enter the US enjoy little of the constitutional rights granted to US citizens.

Trump was not the first president to use this specific power of the immigration law to limit who can enter the US. impose broader restrictions than its predecessors.

BUT HOW WOULD THIS ACTUALLY WORK?

Bill Hing, a professor at the University of San Francisco and general counsel to the California-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said Trump would face legal trouble if he excluded all communists or Marxists.

In the travel ban that was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, Hing said the court paid particular attention to steps the Trump administration had taken to check with US embassies abroad to ensure that people from those countries did not pose a threat. for the US

“You have to have a justification,” Hing said.

That thought was echoed by immigration attorney Allen Orr, the former president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Lawyers Association. Orr said the version that eventually made it to the Supreme Court had a “whole list of exceptions.”

“It’s not a blanket ban if there are a lot of exceptions,” Orr said.

IF TRUMP IS Elected, WHO WOULD INFLUENCE THIS PLAN?

Analysts point straight to one country: China, where tens of millions of people are members of the country’s Communist Party.

Bates Gill is executive director of the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis. He said such a ban would hit China hardest and should be viewed through that lens. Gill said that in addition to the large number of members who are Chinese government officials, party membership has traditionally been a path for upwardly mobile people in China, who are often well-educated, urban and internationally oriented. Business people have joined the party since the late 1990s, Gill said.

“Essentially you would ban China’s elite from entering the United States,” he said. “It would be huge and drastic and of course very damaging to the relationship with China.”

ARE THERE COMMUNISTS AND MARXISTS IN AMERICA NOW?

There are a few, but judging by membership in the National Communist Party, it’s a fairly small number.

Communist Party USA has about 15,000 people on its membership list, party co-chair Joe Sims said. The list is “pruned regularly,” he said, but some of that group may not be active members.

The party is growing by some 2,000 to 3,000 new members a year, and has led a number of local school administrators and city council candidates, Sims added.

However, it has no one in a federal or state elected office and has not had a presidential ticket since the mid-1980s, he said.

WHY DOES TRUMP TALK ABOUT THEM SO MUCH?

Spreading fear that communists and Marxists are about to take over the country has proved an effective way for the former president to animate his base.

While there is no real risk that the US will soon become a “Third World Marxist regime,” as Trump suggested, these attacks have helped him address voter emotions in a country with a long history of anti-communist sentiment.

The tactic has also helped Trump appeal to some immigrants whose families faced oppression and political persecution under communist regimes in countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Vietnam.

Trump has also unfoundedly referred to his Democratic rivals by these terms since he first emerged on the political scene, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have recently continued with similar attacks, claiming it “woke up” policy in America is part of a Marxist policy. agenda.

Experts say it is incorrect to suggest that communists or Marxists rule major US institutions.

For example, Biden is a proponent of capitalism who has taken executive action to promote economic competition.