Saturday, January 16, 2016

Breitbart: Trump's Muslim Deportation is no worse than Jimmy Carter's of Iranians?

Today's Phoney Meme:

Why tell the whole truth, when half the truth does the job for you? That is probably what Breitbart was thinking when gave the conservative hive mind a kick, equating an executive action taken in 1979 by Jimmy Carter and The Proposal by Donald Trump to ban all Muslims from entering the US.

This is his written statement, that Trump himself read. "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on,"

Is That what Jimmy Carter Did?

Of Course Not! Using the time honored technique of dishonest journalists of making untrue accusations with in the form of a question, Breitbart asks:

Is Donald Trump’s conditional bar on Muslims’ entry into the United States a shocking outrage, or just similar to the 1979 policy adopted by Democratic President Jimmy Carter?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/09/flashback-president-jimmy-carter-banned-iranians-u-s/
Knowing that most of his followers don't read past the fold, he backs down and admits that Carter did nothing of the kind. Of course now the meme is circulating as if what was implied is real. In His article he states....

"Carter's Executive order was for In December of that year, a U.S. Appeals Court allowed the deportation of the 7,000 Iranian students who were found to have visa violations. About 15,000 Iranians were told to leave the United States.
In addition, Iranians entering the United States were forced to submit to extra border screening, and many Iranians’ existing visas were cancelled."

I would argue that they all prudent and measured responses to the change in our relationship with Iran after the Revolution and Hostage Situation. Most of the deportees were Students in Violation of their visas, and the others were representatives of a hostile government.

However, this was not a Mass or indiscriminate deportation, nor did Carter's order close the border to all Iranians. Tens of Thousands of Iranians, the vast majority, remained in the United States in spite of the tightened border restrictions; Most Iranian Students ,permanent residents, or spouses of US citizens.

As reported by Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, During the consecutive 1978–79 academic year, on the eve of the revolution, the number of Iranian students enrolled in American institutions rose to 45,340, and in 1979–80 the number reached a peak of 51,310.  The US census reports that there has been a continuous increase in the number of Iranian refugees since the 1979 revolution. 338,000 cited in the 2000 U.S. census. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Americans


Conclusion:

Breitbart once again used clever misstatements and false equivalency to stir up a phoney meme.



3. Carter's Executive Order
http://www.archives.gov/.../executive-order/12172.html