The first executive order on immigration by President Donald
Trump came on Jan. 27, 2017. This order, also known as the “travel ban,” suspended
travel from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days, blocked
refugees for 120 days and suspended travel from Syria indefinitely. Since then,
two more versions of the travel ban have seen litigation at the lower court
level; appeals of those revised bans came before two appeals courts and, just recently,
oral arguments were made before the Supreme Court on the third version of the
travel ban.
The latest ban, announced through a
Sept. 24 proclamation, targeted eight countries—Chad,
Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia—and suspended refugee admissions. Chad has since been
dropped from the list of restricted countries after the Administration said it
had improved its information-sharing practices related to vetting. Based solely
on the oral arguments, it appears this latest travel ban may be upheld by the
court. The justices seemed unconvinced by the State of Hawaii’s assertion that
President Trump overstepped his statutory immigration powers.
On April 24, U.S. District Judge John
D. Bates ruled that the Trump Administration’s
plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was
unlawful and must be set aside. This ruling would require the Administration to
accept new DACA applicants; however, the judge allowed the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security 90 days to explain in detail why it believes that DACA is unlawful.
On May 1, seven states sued the Trump
Administration in an effort to end the DACA program, saying the executive order
creating the program was an overreach by former President Barack Obama. The
states filed their suit in the Southern District of Texas, which lies in the
Fifth Circuit. According to that circuit court, DACA is an unlawful overreach
by the executive branch, citing the court’s Nov. 25, 2015 decision. The lawsuit puts the Trump
Administration in the unusual position of possibly having to defend a program
the President has denounced.
ADEA has joined other health and
higher education associations to weigh in on the travel ban and DACA. According to the Census Bureau, one in five Americans is projected
to be age 65 and older by 2030; more than half of all Americans are projected
to belong to a minority group (any group other than non-Hispanic White alone)
by 2044; and nearly one in five of the nation’s total population is projected
to be foreign born by 2060.
The demographic changes in our nation
have affected the makeup of dental school classrooms, faculty and the patient
population. In the past five years, the proportion of underrepresented racial
and ethnic groups and the number of women represented in the dental student
population has increased almost 50%. ADEA continues to track federal
immigration policies and believes that diversity in the health professions and specifically
in academic dentistry is important to ensure access to care and create a better
educational experience for all students.