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Travel Ban: James Robart Was Factually Wrong While Halting Trump Order

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay
Published on: 21:12 PST, Feb 6, 2017

The travel ban imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump was halted on Friday, when U.S. District Court Judge James Robart put it on hold. However, while making an argument against the executive order, he might have gone a bit too far. A part of his argument turned out to be incorrect, while doing the fact check. According to the judge, nobody from the banned seven countries has been arrested for extremism in the United States in the last 15 years, since the 9/11 attack took place.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway pointed out that Robart was incorrect in making the argument. The judge’s claim that nobody from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen has been arrested since 2001 happens to be factually wrong. Here is why. An Iraqi immigrant from Texas pleaded guilty in October last year, after he was arrested for trying to help the Islamic State. Later in November, a refugee from Somalia launched a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University. He was, however, not arrested since an officer managed to kill him.

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway prepares to appear on the Sunday morning show ‘Meet The Press’ from the north lawn at the White House, January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. [Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]

While halting the travel ban, Robart asked a lawyer from the Justice Department how many foreign nationals from the banned countries had been arrested since 9/11. The lawyer said she did not know. Robart decided to answer the question himself.

“You’re here arguing on behalf of someone that says we have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these countries and there’s no support for that,” he said.

According to sociology professor Charles Kurzman, no U.S. national has been killed in America by anyone from those seven countries since the 9/11 terrorist attack. However, it may be factually wrong to say that nobody was accused or arrested. The professor, nevertheless, pointed out that 23 percent of Muslim Americans, accused of having been involved with terror plots since the 9/11, had a lineage from the banned seven countries.

Investigators in white jumpsuits work the crime scene on Boylston Street following yesterday’s bomb attack at the Boston Marathon April 16, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. [Image by Darren McCollester/Getty Images]

The travel ban was misinterpreted by the federal judge, according to Conway. She said, while issuing the nationwide injunction, Robart talked about religion even though the executive order had nothing to do with religion.

“He referenced religion where, in fact, that has nothing to do with the executive order.”

The federal judge was factually wrong in saying there had been no arrest that involved people from the banned seven countries. But, he was right in saying that the high-profile terror attacks on the U.S. soil had not been carried out by people from the banned countries. The people responsible for deadly attacks since 9/11, such the Orlando shooting and the Boston Marathon bombings, were either from America itself or from other countries.

According to Conway, the travel ban is the U.S. president’s responsibility. She said it was Trump’s duty to impose the ban “to protect Americans,” Fox News reported. She called Robart’s decision as “overly broad.”

[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]

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