President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel of people from seven Muslim-majority countries, suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days and in Syria’s case indefinitely, drew sharp reactions from civil rights groups and Democrats.
Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are the countries targeted by the order.
“Identifying specific countries with Muslim majorities and carving out exceptions for minority religions flies in the face of the constitutional principle that bans the government from either favouring or discriminating against particular religions. Any effort to discriminate against Muslims and favour other religions runs afoul of the First Amendment,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty… as a grand tradition of America, welcoming immigrants, that has existed since America was founded, has been stomped upon,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
‘Helping Christians’
Mr. Trump justified the selection of entrants to the U.S. based on religious affiliation before signing the order, in an interview to the Christian Broadcasting Network. “They’ve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough to get into the U.S.? If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfair, everybody was persecuted in all fairness, but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians... So we are going to help them.”
The move also indicates an American refusal under Mr. Trump to share the responsibility to deal with the world’s worst refugee crisis. The order signed by Mr. Trump has no word on creating or supporting safe zones for people fleeing violence in West Asia, as he had promised many times during the campaign. The Syrian conflict alone has spawned 4.8 million refugees in neighbouring countries and Europe, while 6.6 million people have been displaced inside Syria, according to UNHCR estimates last year.
Restricted programme
The refugee admissions programme, when restarted, will be restricted to select countries. The number of people to be admitted in 2017 has been cut by more than half compared to the previous year, to 50,000.
Mr. Trump invoked the September 11 terrorist attack to justify his decision, but Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon and Egypt, countries from where the terrorists came, are not on the list of targeted countries. Mr. Trump appears to pursue continuity in relations with Saudi Arabia. The first arms sales approved by the Trump administration on Monday include continuing ammunition supplies to Saudi Arabia, whose main military operation is against Yemen, one of the seven countries affected by Friday’s decision.
“Numerous foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2001,” the order issued by Mr. Trump said, repeating a campaign theme. This claim was scrutinised by Alex Nowrasteh in a who called for better perspective, writing in National Interest article in September 2016. “The chance of being murdered in a terrorist attack committed by a foreigner on U.S. soil is one in 3.6 million a year…. The chance of being murdered in a regular homicide is one in 14,000 fourteen thousand a year, which is 253 times as great as dying in a terrorist attack committed by a foreigner on U.S. soil,” he concluded, based on data starting from 1975 and including the 9/11 attacks.
The plan outlined by the executive order to tighten the vetting process will put the burden on countries of origin to provide relevant data to the U.S authorities, regarding their citizens. The Secretaries of Homeland and State, along with Director of National Intelligence, will evolve a process to “evaluate the applicant’s likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society and the applicant’s ability to make contributions to the national interest”, to be allowed into the U.S.
They also have to evolve “a mechanism to assess whether or not the applicant has the intent to commit criminal or terrorist acts after entering the United States”. After the review, there will be a Presidential proclamation which could include more countries, the executive order said.
