Flashback: Jimmy Carter Barred Iranians From Entering The U.S.

by JASmius



All we can really say is that it was simply a different era - and a much safer one

And remember, this was during the Jimmy Carter presidency:

Despite vast criticism over GOP front-runner Donald Trump's latest comments regarding Muslims entering the U.S., this is not the first time limitations are issued on allowing foreigners from entering the country, Front Page Magazine reports.

In 1980, when dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter issued a number of orders putting pressure on Iran — one order included banning Iranians from entering the U.S. "unless they oppose the Shiite Islamist regime or had a medical emergency."

In a 1980 speech, Carter stated:

"The Secretar[ies] of [the] Treasury[, State,] and the Attorney General will invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires. This directive will be interpreted very strictly."

Mr. Peanut also deported fifteen thousand Iranians on the same grounds, as opposed to importing tens of thousands more.

Moreover, Front Page makes the case that Sharkboy's actions were far more "racist" than the popular, if completely impractical, proposals of the moment:

"Classifying Iranians as a group is closer to racism than classifying people by a racist supremacist ideology that calls for the mass murder and enslavement of non-Muslims, as ISIS is doing today," Front Page reports.

And just think: No American had a problem with it.  Not because we're a "racist" country, but because the Iranians had attacked us by sacking our embassy - which is American sovereign territory, remember - an effective act of war.  Whereas today we face a much larger but more diffuse enemy that has actually inflicted more damage and casualties on us than the Iranians did thirty-six years ago.  Whether That J.C. Guy would have banned Muslims from the country is conjecture; my guess is he would not have because of the same impracticality problem of rounding them up, the horrible optics, etc.  But would the American people have supported it?  If it's within spitting distance of a push today, I have to think it would have been a landslide majority in 1980.

Here's an additional bit of perspective: We are about as far from the Iranian hostage crisis today as Americans in 1980 were from the Japanese internment camps of World War II.  Seventy-plus years ago national security was taken sufficiently seriously that FDR didn't hesitate to round up all Japanese nationals and naturalized U.S. citizens and their children and imprison them (and yes, it was demonstrated to be justifiable on internal security grounds); thirty-five years ago national security was taken sufficiently seriously that Jimmy Carter banned Iranians from the country.  Today, national security is taken so unseriously that the same enemy that is trying to mass-murder us from without and within, with escalating success, is being welcomed into the country by its government in record-breaking numbers.

And for those who are so paranoid about an "anti-Muslim backlash," consider what the aftermath of a nuclear 9/11 would be.  Isn't the best way of preventing both to cut off the enemy's access to our homeland now, before either can happen?

Assuming, of course, that it isn't already too late.

As I never do.