Senator Marco Rubio appeared to publicly comment on the remarks of Fox News host Bob Beckel, who suggested a restriction on student visas for Muslim students. Instead of disagreeing with this ridiculous suggestion, Rubio acknowledged that he could see the point in the idea.
As the article points out, neither of the suspected Boston bombers came to the United States on student visas, so I find it a little confusing that student visas would somehow come into question. As of this point, no international students here on visas who also happen to practice Islam have been implicated. It seems extreme to suddenly want to restrict all Muslim student visas.
Moreover, this reminds me of the restrictions on "good" and "bad" immigrants that happened early on during the Industrial Revolution. Most Americans will now acknowledge that this was wrong, so why is it suddenly okay to profile students of Muslim origins?
My most immediate concern is for the Muslim citizens, students, tourists, and other visitors or residents already in the United States. Already subjected to intense profiling, the Boston bombing has brought an innocent group of people under intense and unfair scrutiny once again. Yes, there are Islamic terrorists out in the world - along with terrorists from every other social group on the planet. It is amazingly unfair for the actions of two evil people to change the way Americans look at a group of people, most of whom have zero interest in creating terror in the United States. Creating restrictions like this will hurt the Muslim people already in the United States, citizens and visitors alike, and violates their right to freedom of religion.
