Donald Trump has invented a surefire way to filter out bad guys seeking to immigrate to the United States. Ask them if they're evil.
Trump is also expected to propose creating a new, ideological test for admission to the country that would assess a candidate's stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. Through questionnaires, searching social media, interviewing friends and family or other means, applicants would be vetted to see whether they support American values like tolerance and pluralism.
Which sounds remarkably like the background checks that potential immigrants go through already, through those checks tend to focus on actual associations with terrorists and criminals, since installing an ideological test that says “you must have these beliefs” is counter to the idea of allowing people to have freedom in their beliefs.
America tests naturalizing immigrants on basic knowledge of American history and the operation of the federal government, a test many citizens would have a hard time passing. (Seriously, go take the test—it’s more challenging than you think.) But it doesn’t test potential citizens on their ideology.
For which, Trump should be grateful. On gay rights alone, 52 percent of his own supporters wouldn’t make it through the door.
And to be clear, this test is in addition to Trump’s ban on immigrants from Muslim nations. An ideology that shouldn’t pass anyone’s test.