On January 30, 2017, President Donald Trump kept his promise to “Make America Safe Again” by taking swift action to strengthen national security.
His move, designed to protect the nation from both foreign and domestic threats, was hailed by many as a much-needed step in the right direction.
But while it was a victory for national security, it sent shockwaves through the Left, igniting outrage and setting the stage for an intense political showdown that would dominate headlines for years to come.
Trump’s Executive Order No. 13769
Executive Order 13769 was entitled, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.”
The executive order stated that, “It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks in the United States and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”
The President put his visa-issuance policy in place as a way of discovering people attempting to enter the U.S. with ties to worldwide terrorist organizations.
Trump’s travel ban initially put restrictions on people trying to enter the country from 15 nations that were cited as being hotbeds for sheltering known terrorist organizations or terrorist ties.
The ban was instantly seen as controversial by left-wing activists and their media allies who denounced the ban as racist and spurred a bevy of slanderous, verbal attacks against the President.
They were totally ignoring the fact that the ban put measures in place intended to prevent any future terrorist attacks from being carried out on U.S. soil.
The opposition to the ban quickly began dominating the woke media, who were screaming about its alleged “racist” implications.
But national polls conducted by organizations like Politico, The Guardian, U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, and others revealed that the American public largely supported the travel ban.
Many RINOs in the House and Senate chose to not publicly comment or show support for the ban, but some openly supported the President’s actions.
Senator Todd Young (R-IND) said in a CBS News interview that, “The federal government has no more important responsibility than protecting the American people, and refugees from any country should only be permitted to enter the United States if we are certain they do not represent a threat to our citizens . . .”
Young added, “I look forward to carefully analyzing this temporary executive order and its effects and working with this new administration and my colleagues in Congress to keep America safe while finally ending the unspeakable suffering of the Syrian people. I want to ensure that the administration’s new policy allows Iraqis and Afghanis who faithfully supported our troops and who face threats to their safety — and who do not represent a terrorist threat — are able to come to the United States.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said at the time, “I think it’s a good idea to tighten the vetting process” on an episode of ABC’s This Week.
Democrat Opposition
There was literally no support for the ban from the Left and they quickly mobilized, denouncing it as a “Muslim Ban” and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the ACLU and other left-wing activist organizations.
The Islamic community, unsurprisingly, voiced strong opposition, calling the measure discriminatory and unjust.
Within days of the ban’s announcement, protests erupted all over the country in Democrat-controlled cities and at airports across the nation.
And the media used the ban as a reason to continue and escalate their resistance against Trump’s administration, portraying him as “hateful” and “divisive.”
Several lawsuits were filed until a group of federal judges issued an injunction that was affirmed on February 9.
But the Supreme Court finally approved parts of the travel ban in June 2017.
Short-Lived Success
The Left was not happy with the Supreme Court ruling(s) or finished with their attempts to weaken measures the ban put into place for the protection of the U.S.
The protest and name-calling continued for the remainder of Trump’s first term in office.
And on January 20, 2021, one of Joe Biden’s first acts as President was to issue a proclamation revoking Trump’s travel ban.
Making America Safe Again in 2025
President Donald Trump is once again fulfilling his campaign promise to secure our nation’s borders.
As part of President Trump’s efforts, he signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, that incorporated a few components of the 2017 executive order but is in many aspects laying the groundwork for a policy that’s stronger than his initial travel ban.
The first section of the 2025 order specifically describes policy to protect citizens of the U.S.:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. (a) It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.
(b) To protect Americans, the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests. More importantly, the United States must identify them before their admission or entry into the United States. And the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.
Subsequent sections require that within 60 days of issuance, the Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Attorney General work together and submit a report to the President identifying nations with weak or problematic vetting policies and reporting on the number of immigrants from those countries who are currently residing in the U.S.
This differs from the 2017 travel ban, which just simply identified 15 foreign nations.
The President wants an in-depth study performed to determine where the current (potential) threats are to the U.S. from countries with weak or non-existent vetting policies.
It is also stated in the Order that all aliens currently residing or intending to be admitted to the country are “vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” especially if they are coming from regions or nations identified as security risk.
The order goes on to assign directives for additional reports detailing immigration policies, and vetting practices in the U.S. and of other nations and that the responsible departments and agencies, “Recommend any additional actions to protect the American people and our constitutional republic from foreign threats,” based on their findings.
It goes on further to state that within 60 days of issuance, the Attorney General and the Director of Homeland Security will ensure that safeguards are in place to prevent any refugee or stateless individual who didn’t undergo a rigorous identification process from residing in the U.S. in an effort to prevent criminal elements from easily entering the country as allowed by the previous administration.
From day one in office, President Donald J. Trump has been true to his word and his quest to make America great again.