Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

By Britt Nelson

The current rage is against President Donald Trump’s executive order to better investigate people attempting to enter the United States of America from seven Muslim-majority counties in the Middle East. At issue is national security, but opponents claim the order is aimed at Muslims and is discriminatory in nature.

Earlier this week the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, ruled against President Trump’s order which will more than likely send the entire issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Thursday in a TV news interview on MSNBC the U.S. Supreme Court may sustain President Trump’s immigration order.

“Look, this is not a solid decision,” said Dershowitz. “This is a decision that looks like it’s based more on policy than on constitutionality. There are many, many flaws … I think this court opinion will not ultimately by sustained by the Supreme Court … I think the standing arguments may fail in the Supreme Court.”

In calling for “extreme vetting” of immigrants from the seven Muslim countries President Trump is clearly acting within his authority to protect America from potential threats.

Pat Lockwood, a U.S. expatriate living in Esterillos, Costa Rica said of the federal judges, “They should not have discussed the ethics of the ban. They are not there to decide the fate of this case, only the technicalities of the Constitutionality of the filing. America, your laws are being undermined by politics. We elected Trump because he wanted to limit politics, and now liberals are trying pathetically to tie his hands.”

President Trump, meanwhile, is vowing to fight the Appeals Court ruling and may reissue his executive order more clearing defining its intent, according to TV news reports.

One problem with President Trump’s executive order is that it only covered seven Muslim counties, and it should have included all the counties defined as being in the Middle East especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel, but they were excluded for reasons unknown at this point. Radical Islam extremists can be found in counties far beyond the Middle East — like Indonesia and the Philippines.

Perhaps President Trump should expand the executive order and put the brakes on anyone coming into the United States from any country. What’s wrong with asking questions of people traveling to and from dangerous regions of the world? Extreme vetting for all is not a bad idea in these threatening and uncertain times.

The goal is to keep terrorists out, and protect American lives and property in the process. The goal is not to keep Muslims out but rather the radical Islamic extremists that seek to destroy the American way of life.

Next comes the big one. The U.S. Senate will soon conduct hearings on the confirmation of conservative Colorado Federal Court Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Scalia died last year.

The more the Democrats fight President Trump on highly-qualified Gorsuch the more they will look foolish. This is primarily why Trump won the presidency because of all the long-term infighting in the U.S. Congress that results in gridlock and getting not much accomplished for the citizens.

In America, rage is all the rage.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.