Trump's travel ban will only lead to more chaos

Editor's note: William Jones, a special commentator for CGTN, is a former Washington bureau chief for Executive Intelligence Review News Service and a non-resident fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In another disruptive move, the Trump administration has announced a travel ban for the citizens of a number of countries, mostly in Africa and Asia. While the move is consistent with the futile U.S. attempt to "immunize" itself from the problems of the world, it is more likely to exacerbate rather than alleviate these problems. The ban allegedly targets those countries that the U.S. considers unreliable in issuing visas and travel permits to some of its own citizens.

From June 9, when the order takes effect, citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will not be allowed to enter the United States. Seven other countries are under partial restrictions.

This ban does not come as a surprise for U.S. watchers. The U.S. President Donald Trump issued such a ban during his first term, which met with a good deal of opposition from the general public and some pushback from the courts. During that period, he had to change the wording of the ban several times in order to overcome court objections, finally hitting on "national security reason" to justify the measure. The "national security" gambit has also been employed to justify the Trump administration's draconian tariff policy.

Some might point to the recent terrorist attack carried out by an Egyptian "illegal alien" in Boulder, Colorado, as an example of the need for such measure. Egypt, however, is not on the list of the banned countries. The names on the list include some of the poorest nations in the world, countries that Trump would not include on his "favorites" list.

The administration's radical and rather xenophobic anti-immigration policy, seemingly aimed at building a "Fortress America," and its draconian tariff policy could be the death knell to making America great again.

The economic progress which the U.S. experienced during and after the end of World War II was largely built with the help of immigrant scientists and engineers, who migrated from Nazi Germany and other places to a country that was then characterized as a "temple of liberty."

As President John F. Kennedy so eloquently put it, the U.S. has in fact been "a nation of immigrants." These words are beginning to sound very hollow in the light of Trump's immigration policy.

This tradition, America as a "nation of immigrants," also raised the standing of the United States in the eyes of the world, in regard to a policy of openness that was not always practiced in other countries of the world, including other developed nations. The prestige of the United States increased immensely because of this open attitude. For many, the U.S. was considered a generous benefactor.

That is no longer the case. For many now, particularly among the countries of the Global South, the United States is looked upon as something of a small-minded tyrant, interested solely in its own well-being. This change will come back to haunt the nation. 

The fact of the matter is that no country, not even the United States, can isolate itself from the major problems facing humanity. The numerous countries now suffering from underdevelopment and increasing poverty, some of which are under Trump's ban, require the power of countries like the United States to overcome these conditions.

When Kennedy proposed the first United Nations Development Decade in 1960, the United States was prepared to take the lead in this but subsequently, Kennedy was assassinated. In 2013, China with the Belt and Road Initiative helped rekindle the development drive. If the United States is prepared to work with China and other developing countries on these issues, there would not be a more powerful force to resolve the underlying problems.

Rather than hiding behind an ephemeral diplomatic wall of "protection," hoping the problems will go away, Trump should use the power of the United States for promoting global development in these countries. This indeed would help rekindle the "greatness" the United States achieved when it was lauded as a "nation of immigrants."

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