The U.S. Travel Ban on Citizens of Selected Countries in Context

Donald Trump’s presidential order by which he implemented a temporary travel ban on citizens of seven countries has caused much criticism and even protests. Iran, Iraq, Lybia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are all majority Muslim countries, of which six are states in which the U.S. intervened militarily.

Trump’s executive order goes on to argue that "[d]eteriorating conditions in certain countries due to war, strife, disaster, and civil unrest increase the likelihood that terrorists will use any means possible to enter our country." Check this analysis by Alex Nowrasteh from the CATO Institute. He makes clear that people from countries to which the ban applies have not killed American citizens in the U.S. since 1975, unlike e.g. perpetrators from Saudi Arabia to which the ban doesn’t apply.