President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order has led to some chaotic results that are making me nervous about our country’s new leader and his White House staff.

I am not surprised the order, which blocks admission to the United States by individuals from seven countries, was issued. After all, one of Trump’s campaign promises was to institute a policy of “extreme vetting” to keep the country safe from terrorists. We did not have to wait long for him to take the action. The executive order was signed just eight days after his inauguration.

The order has led to days of disruption and confusion at U.S. airports, as immigration officials tasked with enforcing the order had not been given any direction as to how to carry it out.

Green-card holders who had been living in the United States previously, but who were out of the country when the travel ban was instituted, were denied re-entry if their country of origin was Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen or Somalia. Families who had already completed years of immigration vetting were turned away, including some individuals who had worked as translators for the U.S. military in Iraq. Individuals were held at airports while their families waited for them to be admitted. And hundreds of protesters showed up at airports across the country to protest the order.

The ban suspended entry for individuals from seven predominantly Muslim countries for a minimum of 90 days. It also froze the U.S. refugee program for four months and made the length of the ban on refugees from Syria “indefinite.”

The White House later lifted the ban for green-card holders and the translators and their families.

Three days after the order was signed, Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates directed her State Department attorneys not to defend the executive order, as she deemed it to be unconstitutional. Trump immediately fired her.

One week after the order was signed, Federal Judge James Robart issued a ruling that stopped enforcement of the order nationwide because its targeting of people of a certain religion or ancestry was deemed unconstitutional.

The next day, a tweet from Trump retaliated. He called Robart a “so-called judge,” referred to the ruling as “ridiculous” and said Robart would be to blame in the event of a terrorist attack.

When the justice department appealed his ruling, citing the immigration issue was one of national security, a three-judge federal court panel upheld Robart’s decision. The panel found no evidence supporting the Trump administration’s claim that anyone from the seven targeted countries had ever come to the United States and committed a terrorist attack. The panel also said the appeal had given no reason why the current vetting process should be changed.

As I write this, the White House is deciding what to do next. The staff could rewrite the executive order to make it more defensible, or it could appeal the federal judges’ ruling to the Supreme Court. Trump told reporters over the weekend all options are open.

I try not to pay too much attention to pundits who are determined to attack Trump for every tweet, policy or appointment he makes. I truly want to wait and see what his new style of government will accomplish.

But I sit up and take notice when his staff cannot seem to draft an executive order that can be defended. I am worried that orders are signed without giving officials any indication of how to enforce them. And I am concerned when the president of the United States attacks the courts that uphold that Constitution.

This crisis and legal battle was brought on, in my opinion, because the president and his White House staff and advisers don’t seem to know how to draft a strong, defensible executive order. This leaves me questioning whether the folks in charge of leading our government have a clear understanding of the U.S. Constitution.

So, I am still waiting for the new White House to prove itself to me.

If our president hopes to win over those of us waiting to see how effective his new style of governing will be, he’s got to do a better job of proving to us that he knows what he is doing.

Show me, Mr. President.

Linda Wojciechowski

associate editor

Catasauqua Press