President Donald Trump banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days and suspended admission of refugees for 120 days, while indefinitely barring refugees from Syria, through an executive order on Friday.
U.S immigration authorities have started detaining travellers from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, and all refugees, though the order allowed exemption for those who were already in transit.
“Extreme vetting”
As the new measures for what Mr. Trump calls “extreme vetting” of new entrants into the U.S take full shape over the next three to four months, the ban could be extended, more countries could be added to the list and doors could be shut for refugees, particularly Muslims, fleeing violence.
“I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out… We don't want them here,” Mr. Trump said before signing the order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.”
Christian refugees OK
Mr. Trump has also ordered that religious minorities facing persecution in these countries shall be admitted to the U.S. Ahead of signing the executive order restricting entry into the U.S, Mr. Trump said in an interview that he would help Christians facing persecution in Syria.
“‘Extreme vetting’ is just a euphemism for discrimination against Muslims,” American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement. Mr. Trump had said as much in the second Presidential debate in October last year. “It’s called extreme vetting,” Mr. Trump said when repeatedly asked whether he stood by his initial call to ban all Muslims from entering the country.
Based on religious-based persecution
As and when the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) restarts, it must “prioritise refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality,” said the order.
This will make a Muslim victim of Islamist terrorism in Muslim-majority countries ineligible for admission to the U.S. Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that it was difficult for Christians to be admitted as refugees to the U.S, a claim that is not borne out by fact. Last year, 37,521 Christians came to the U.S as refugees against 39,901 Muslims, according to a Pew analysis based on self-reported religious affiliations.
Equality of religions is protected by the U.S. constitution while discriminating immigrants based on their country of origin is banned under a U.S. law made after decades of discrimination against many nationalities. Mr. Trump’s order will face judicial challenges, but the Republican majority Congress could go along with him. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative Paul Ryan welcomed the President’s executive order.
