Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Brussels Attack

Donald Trump on Brussels: 'I Would Close Up Our Borders'

Halting all immigration is an extreme measure.

Robby Soave | 3.22.2016 10:50 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Large image on homepages | Todd Kranin
(Todd Kranin)
Trump
Todd Kranin

Donald Trump has renewed his call to seal off the U.S. border and halt immigration—all immigration, it seems—until such time as we "figure out what's going on." 

Trump called into the Fox & Friends program on Fox News this morning to address the terrorist attack in Brussels. 

"I would close up our borders to people until we figure out what's going on," he said. "We have to be very, very vigilant with who we let into this country. We are taking in people without real documentation. We don't know who they are or where they're from. We don't learn. I will tell you I've been talking about this for a long time. This whole thing will get worse as time goes by." 

Trump has already proposed a travel ban for all foreign-born Muslims who want to come to the U.S. It isn't totally clear if Trump is merely doubling down on that position, or broadening it to include all immigrants, from anywhere. A total immigration ban would be a logistical nightmare, according to The Washington Post: 

The closest thing to the latter we've seen in recent history was the grounding of flights after 9/11 -- a temporary measure narrowly focused on the precise type of threat that had been presented. Beyond that, and beyond laws in the early 20th Century limiting particular types of immigration, we've never seen an incident in which the country halted all migratory traffic. (Which, of course, would be a logistical challenge of enormous scale.) 

It would also be profoundly illiberal and brazenly authoritarian to punish millions of non-threatening immigrants because of the crimes of a few. Trump wrote on Twitter that the U.S. must be "vigilant and smart," if it wants to prevent the kinds of attacks that have rocked Paris and Brussels. But halting all immigration is neither vigilant, nor smart: it would be a reactionary, counter-productive course of action that increases the power of the government to disrupt the lives of ordinary, peaceful people. 

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Before We Know Much of Anything About Brussels Attack, Encryption Fears Already Invoked

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.

Brussels AttackDonald TrumpImmigration
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (164)

Latest

In Dangerous Times, Train for Self-Defense

J.D. Tuccille | 6.2.2025 7:00 AM

Welcoming Anti-Trump Liberals to the Free Trade Club

Katherine Mangu-Ward | From the July 2025 issue

Brickbat: Armed, Elderly, and Dangerous

Charles Oliver | 6.2.2025 4:00 AM

How Trump's Tariffs and Immigration Policies Could Make Housing Even More Expensive

M. Nolan Gray | From the July 2025 issue

Photo: Dire Wolf De-extinction

Ronald Bailey | From the July 2025 issue

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!