The name and political party of an American president or, for that matter, the leader of any country are unimportant.

Blind and uncompromising bureaucracy is the true ruler, and the individual is unimportant in a land governed by laws lacking in common sense.

From young children in wheelchairs groped by TSA agents at airport screenings to the homeowner whose property is seized through eminent domain, the “good” of the country or political subdivision rises above humanity.

Quickly create a new law without thinking through all the consequences, and individuals and families will be lost or destroyed in the fallout as government workers blindly carry out orders as directed.

President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order to suspend for 90 days all immigration from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen left many - some permanent American residents having “green cards,” others with dual citizenship or valid visas in political limbo - detained for hours at airports or returned to their home countries without thought to their individual circumstances.

The order bars entry of all refugees into the United States for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely.

This includes six Christian Syrian relatives of the Assali family from Allentown who were detained at Philadephia’s airport before being returned to their war-torn homeland.

All heck soon broke loose Saturday as protesters, lawyers and loved ones swarmed the airports.

Brooklyn, N.Y., federal Judge Ann Donnelly issued a temporary stay Jan. 28 halting deportation of individuals from those nations who had valid visas, who were at airports or in mid-air coming to America.

Judges in Washington state, Massachusetts and Virginia also issued stays following her ruling.

By Sunday, the Trump administration seemed to have taken notice of its lack of foresight and excluded from the ban permanent residents and those having dual citizenship.

I have no problem with Trump’s “extreme vetting” of refugees. Keeping America safe from extremists, no matter what the stripe, should be his priority, but this is not the way to do it.

What happened this past weekend was cruel and inhumane, certainly not something for which any American president should be proud.

Let us all pray that someone in the administration wakes up and realizes Trump cannot run this country by the seat of his pants.

As I wrote in my March 31, 2016, Editor’s View: “Calm deliberation, rational thought and the ability to arrive at logical conclusions from the facts presented should be the requirements for the leader of the free world in this time of upheaval and terror.”

Deb Palmieri

editor

Parkland Press

Northwestern Press