Scenes like the one on Saturday at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport are becoming all too familiar. Several dozen protested President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.
But there are plenty who support the temporary ban. Trump supporter Michael Caputo is one of them. “He's talked a lot about going forward with extreme vetting. It's something he got a lot of support for in the campaign. It's just the next step in him rolling his whole immigration reform out,” he said.
The order bans all refugees from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for 120 days, and bars all Syrian refugees indefinitely.
We asked to hear from supporters on our WKBW Facebook page and dozens of comments came pouring in. Tom Volcheck wrote: “Absolutely! It's time to keep Americans safe and send a strong message to the world we've had enough.” Justin Michael said “Keep ourselves safe or take a chance. I'm for it. (We) Need to keep America safe before you worry about other countries.
Tony Riley said: “The best example I’ve heard yet: we don't lock our doors before bed because we hate people outside. We lock them because we love the people inside.”
Supporters also compared it to similar measures under the previous administration “If you look at the seven countries that were covered in this first stage of immigration reform, they were all seven countries that were recommended for further security measures by the Obama Administration,” Caputo explained.
Opponents have criticized President Trump’s choice of countries. Some said he left out necessary ones like Saudi Arabia which was home to some of the 9-11 attackers. “There were 42 Muslim countries that weren't included. Saudi Arabia and the others that people are criticizing weren't on Obama's list. The list that was developed for further security measures,” Caputo added.
