Recent inflammatory comments by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump — including a plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States — caused the British to propose one of their own: Banning Trump from entering in the United Kingdom.
The petition titled “Block Donald J. Trump from UK entry” has garnered enough signatures to elicit a response from the British government. The petition claims that the UK has banned “many individuals for hate speech” — and thus Trump should be banned for the same reason.
As of Thursday, the petition has roughly 566,110 signatures and counting and according to the official website, at 100,00 signatures, the parliament must debate this petition.
A debate will be set in 22 days, according to the website. Until then, the UK government has issued a statement. It reads:
The Government has a policy of not routinely commenting on individual immigration or exclusion cases.
For good reasons the Government does not routinely comment on individual immigration and exclusion decisions.
The Home Secretary may exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good.
The Home Secretary has said that coming to the UK is a privilege and not a right and she will continue to use the powers available to prevent from entering the UK those who seek to harm our society and who do not share our basic values.
Exclusion powers are very serious and are not used lightly. The Home Secretary will use these powers when justified and based on all available evidence.
The Prime Minister has made clear that he completely disagrees with Donald Trump’s remarks. The Home Secretary has said that Donald Trump’s remarks in relation to Muslims are divisive, unhelpful and wrong.
The Government recognises the strength of feeling against the remarks and will continue to speak out against comments which have the potential to divide our communities, regardless of who makes them. We reject any attempts to create division and marginalisation amongst those we endeavour to protect.
Earlier this month, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. until “our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
