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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

> I have heard of the US refusing entry to people with visas. I know someone this happened to, in fact.

That's along the lines of if something happens to one person it is a tragedy but if it happens to a lot of people it is statistics.

The numbers are now high enough that it has become a statistic, and one worth noticing. It also draws attention because the list of 7 countries could easily be expanded (on a twitter inspired whim no less).

It's the capriciousness and the uncertainty coupled with the numbers that make it an item, not because it is Trump or someone else at the helm, if Obama would have done this it would have resulted in much the same level of pushback.

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It's hardly clear that folks would object. Obama is actually the one who came up with the list of 7 countries and authorized this in the Terrorist Travel Prevention act of 2015. It's unclear that this list can be expanded on a whim.

https://sethfrantzman.com/2017/01/28/obamas-administration-m...

Obama did something similar in 2012 to little protest.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/03...

Again, I'm against this. But this is hardly unprecedented or shocking - the only shocking thing is that one of our cultural enemies won a popularity contest and then did this.

The hijacking of the GOP will be studied for a long long time in political circles and universities.

I can only imagine the calculus going on in the conservative party at the moment, it must be something along the lines of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't', when the music stops playing it will get ugly.

The authority asserted by President Trump in the executive order does not arise from the TTPA. It derives from INA (viz. 212(f) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) ). The fact that this order uses the country listed in TTPA does not negate the fact that the executive has asserted the authority to negate already existing visa from any country that they wish to. (Well technically they still have the visa, but what use is it if there is a blanket ban.)

In particular, nothing in TTPA barred entry to people who have helped American armed forces, or legally enrolled students from those country, which this order does. Again, not by authority of TTPA, but under INA. Taking the executive order at face value, the executive can ban any and all countries. The fact that they used the list from TTPA is political convenience.

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