Donald Trump under fire over travel ban
Four federal judges moved to halt deportations, around 300 people were stopped or detained worldwide and US civil rights lawyers warned it could ultimately come down to a battle between the Trump administration and the Supreme Court.
The decree suspends the arrival of all
refugees for at least 120 days, Syrian refugees indefinitely and bars citizens
from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Thousands
of demonstrators poured onto the streets and gathered at airports for two
consecutive days to denounce the executive order as lawyers fought for the
release of those detained on arrival — many of them were in mid-air when Trump
signed the decree. Under fire from all quarters, Trump issued an official White
House statement to deny it was a Muslim ban and blast the media for its
coverage.
“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely
reporting. This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our
country safe,” he said. The Republican commander-in-chief likened his order to
Barack Obama’s six-month ban on Iraqi refugees in 2011. Obama’s restrictions,
also criticized overseas at the time, required visas for people having traveled
to the seven countries in the past five years. Trump then took to Twitter to
blast Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, members of his own
party who criticized the ban, calling them “wrong,” “weak on immigration” and
“looking to start World War III.”
The real estate tycoon,
who has never previously held elected office, sees himself making good on a key
but highly controversial campaign promise to subject travelers from
Muslim-majority countries to “extreme vetting” — which he declared would make
America safe from “radical Islamic terrorists.”
Vanguard
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