Immediately, George W. Bush declared a “war on terrorism” which would be his primary focus during his first term. During this time, the USA Patriot Act passed legislation and granted law enforcement agencies the power to incarcerate people they suspect to have terrorist connections. Although President Bush insisted that discrimination and hate crimes would not be accepted, many citizens of Middle-Eastern descent were deprived of their rights by imprisoning people without charges and denying these people the right to an attorney. Moreover, the immigration course of action became even stricter, especially to those of Middle-Eastern …show more content…
The hurricane hit the Gulf of Mexico and destroyed vast portions of the surrounding area. President Bush had appointed “political cronies” to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) top positions. These “cronies” were quick to enact major cuts in FEMA’s budget and provided a poor execution in terms of preparation for Hurricane Katrina. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and by 10 PM, 80% of this city was underwater. Although most of the city had fled from their homes and businesses, about 15,000 people were unable to evacuate due to poverty. Thousands of impoverished people were without transportation, had serious health issues, did not have televisions or radios, thus, they were unaware of the severity of the storm; others lacked either resources to stay in hotels or unavailability of friends and/or family to accommodate them in distant areas. Government officials failed to respond to the situation at hand in a timely fashion and President Bush praised his “crony” of FEMA for his “excellent work,” while those stranded in New Orleans were televised begging for water and food from rooftops and freeways. By mid-September, Bush declared “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the nation has ever seen” and allotted $110 billion for the restoration of New Orleans. However, one year later, the Bush