U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order he said would impose tighter vetting to prevent foreign terrorists from entering the United States at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump on Friday put a four-month hold
on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers
from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries, saying the moves would help
protect Americans from terrorist attacks.
In the most sweeping use of his presidential powers
since taking office a week ago, Trump paused the entry of travelers from Syria
and the six other nations for at least 90 days, saying his administration
needed time to develop more stringent screening processes for refugees,
immigrants and visitors.
"I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep
radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don't want them
here," Trump said earlier on Friday at the Pentagon.
"We only want to admit those into our country who
will support our country and love deeply our people," he said.
The order seeks to prioritize refugees fleeing
religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping
Christians in Syria. That led some legal experts to question whether the order
was constitutional.
One group said it would announce a court challenge on
Monday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the order targets
Muslims because of their faith, contravening the U.S. Constitutional right to freedom
of religion.
"President Trump has cloaked what is a
discriminatory ban against nationals of Muslim countries under the banner of
national security," said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers
Association.
The bans, though temporary, took effect immediately,
causing havoc and confusion for would-be travelers with passports from Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Trump has long pledged to take this kind of action,
making it a prominent feature of his campaign for the Nov. 8 election, but
people who work with Muslim immigrants and refugees were scrambling on Friday
night to determine the scope of the order.
Even legal permanent residents - people with
"green cards" allowing them to live and work in the United States -
were being advised to consult immigration lawyers before traveling outside the
country, or trying to return, said Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group in
Washington.
On Friday evening, Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee said he had fielded about 100 queries from people
anxious about the order, which he said he believed could affect traveling green
card holders, students, people coming to the United States for medical care and
others.
"It's chaos," Ayoub
said.
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