Cambodian Americans say they are disappointed by an executive order of President Donald Trump against immigrants and refugees who wish to enter the United States, saying it is not proper and lawful.
Shortly after Donald Trump became president, he issued many executive orders, including the restriction on immigration to the United States.
Schanley Kuch, a Cambodian resident of Maryland, said the presidential order was “immoral” and damaging to U.S. interests.
“I understand that it strongly affected American values because the American history was from the immigrants and refugees. Those refugees who have legally entered the United States are not the people creating terrorism in the US,” he said.
Kuch stated that the ban will also affect the economy, trade and lead to a brain drain on the economy.
Yap Kim Tung, a Cambodian in Virginia, said the decision was taken too hastily.
“I see that any country has the right to ban immigrants from being admitted into their country. But I notice that that President Donald Trump issuing of the order is too rushed, so it is not a proper plan,” he said.
“He wants to do this to let people see that he cares about the American people rather than others, and make people happy, that is his goal.”
“The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law,” the executive order reads.
Muy Chamroeun, a Cambodian living in Washington, DC, supports President Trump’s order.
“Now he uses the phrase ‘drain the swamp’. That’s what he is doing, so it works for him right now and in my opinion that is the best way to act, because looking in France they were run by communists for years and went nowhere.
“They and Obama were the same until they had the shootings in Paris, Belgium and Germany, and now they are waking up,” he said.
Trump's executive order bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- from entering the US for 90 days, bans all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.
