A common theme since the election I hear regularly is … “quit whining.  You lost (as if all college professors were monolithic).”

America is not a winner take all proposition. Nor is it “America. Love it or leave it.” That’s why this executive order temporarily barring immigrants from seven targeted nations is so antithetical to our basic principles.

As I teach my media ethics students, doing something just because it is legal (and there are grave questions about that) does not make it right. Ethics are what we ought to do, not what we are mandated.

It is difficult to tell college students to keep an open mind when Steve Bannon, the president’s adviser, tells the media to shut up. It is unsettling to watch a growing crowd of my fellow West Virginians accuse the news media with lying … without evidence.

However, the line we all must draw has been crossed. And that line is the Constitution itself. Targeting people groups based on national origin or religion for that matter is illegal, by Congressional mandate.  When the executive branch willfully breaks the law, and Congress is silent, what is the only group left to call it what is?  The news media and “We, the People.”

Protesters are not in the streets because Secretary Hillary Clinton lost. That oversimplification is a fiction designed to deflect from the serious issues that make average people worry for the future of their country. That’s why the response “Get over it” is so galling.  It ignores why we are concerned.

Like every American institution of higher education, Marshall is left to sort through a cosmic mess in the aftermath of the order.  Students from the targeted nations have reason to be afraid. I do not envy Marshall its task, nor can I assuage student fears.

What I can address — unequivocally — is this. No matter how one spins the semantics, this order is not Who We Are. Our Founders fled the very “us against them” mindset that caused Europe to descend into chaos.  Fear is never a governing strategy. Keeping campaign promises is not a governing strategy either, when doing so makes America less safe. When the president swears to protect, preserve and defend, it means just that.

Donald Trump may say he is protecting America. But, the hard, cold data scream otherwise. Not one terror attack since 9/11 was done by an immigrant. Terror threats are homegrown in the digital age. Every intelligence agency (the ones the president is now demoting) will tell you that.  And they will also tell you that turning away a desperate mother and child running from war crimes in Syria makes it more likely both will end up fighting against us rather than helping us win the terror war.

If we really want to make America safer, we can start by rescinding the order, apologizing for our phobias, and spending our energy and resources on proven ways of limiting the threat. Only an about face done with grit and determination to do right can start to undo the damage done — to the weak and vulnerable, to our allies and friends, and the irreparable harm to our ideals.

Dr. Swindell teaches news in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism. His views are his own and are not necessarily those of his employer.