Washington: President Trump has closed America's borders to refugees from around the world, ordering that families fleeing the slaughter in Syria be indefinitely blocked from entering the United States, and temporarily suspending immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.
In an executive order that he said was part of an extreme vetting plan to keep out "radical Islamic terrorists," Mr Trump also established a religious test for refugees from Muslim nations: He ordered that Christians and others from minority religions be granted priority over Muslims.
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Trump to restrict immigration, build wall
US President Donald Trump moves to temporarily block immigrants from seven Middle Eastern countries and to construct a Mexican border wall.
"We don't want them here," Mr Trump said of Islamist terrorists during a signing ceremony at the Pentagon. "We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people."
Earlier in the day, Mr Trump explained to an interviewer for the Christian Broadcasting Network that Christians in Syria were "horribly treated" and alleged that under previous administrations, "if you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible".
"I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them," the president said.
In fact, the United States accepts tens of thousands of Christian refugees. According to the Pew Research Centre, almost as many Christian refugees (37,521) were admitted as Muslim refugees (38,901) in the 2016 fiscal year.
The executive order suspends the entry of refugees into the United States for 120 days and directs officials to determine additional screening "to ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States".
The order also stops the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and bars entry into the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism. Those countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
![President Donald Trump has closed America's borders to refugees from around the world.](/web/20170129043257im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/g/7/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu0id6.png/1485609466765.jpg)
Additionally, Mr Trump signed a memorandum on Friday directing what he called "a great rebuilding of the armed services," saying it would call for budget negotiations to acquire new planes, new ships and new resources for the nation's military.
"Our military strength will be questioned by no one, but neither will our dedication to peace," Mr. Trump said.
![Protesters chant slogans against President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration on Thursday.](/web/20170129043257im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/i/e/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu0id6.png/1485609466765.jpg)
Announcing his "extreme vetting" plan, the president invoked the spectre of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Most of the 19 hijackers on the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, were from Saudi Arabia. The rest were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon. None of those countries are on Mr Trump's visa ban list.
Human rights activists roundly condemned Mr Trump's actions, describing them as officially sanctioned religious persecution dressed up to look like an effort to make the United States safer.
![At Washington Square Park in New York, Muslim women shout slogans during a rally against President Donald Trump's order ...](/web/20170129043257im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/i/e/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu0id6.png/1485609466765.jpg)
The International Rescue Committee called it "harmful and hasty". The American Civil Liberties Union described it as a "euphemism for discriminating against Muslims." Raymond Offensheiser, the president of Oxfam America, said the order would harm families around the world who are threatened by authoritarian governments.
"The refugees impacted by today's decision are among the world's most vulnerable people â women, children, and men â who are simply trying to find a safe place to live after fleeing unfathomable violence and loss," Mr. Offensheiser said.
![Protester Sanaa Alhagri hold a sign during a rally against President Donald Trump's executive order on Muslim ...](/web/20170129043257im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/i/e/s/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gu0id6.png/1485609466765.jpg)
The president signed the executive order shortly after issuing a statement noting that Friday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an irony that many of his critics highlighted on Twitter. The statement did not mention Jews, although it cited the "depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror".
Mr Trump's actions came during a swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, a former Marine general. Standing in the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon, Mr Trump hailed the members of America's military as "the backbone of this country" and described Mr Mattis as a "man of action". The president mistakenly referred to Mr Mattis as a "soldier," a term abhorred by Marines.
Mr Trump has been deferential to Mr Mattis, who has quickly established himself as a top aide whose advice the president is willing to take. On Friday, Mr Trump said he would let Mr Mattis "override" him by banning torture during terror interrogations even though Mr Trump believes the tactics do work in getting information from suspects.
In a remarkable show of deference to his own subordinate, Mr Trump said during an earlier news conference Friday morning with Theresa May, the British prime minister, that he would let Mr Mattis decide about whether to use torture in interrogations. Mr Mattis has said he does not believe torture is effective.
"I don't necessarily agree, but I will tell you that he will override because I'm giving him that power," Mr Trump said. "I'm going to rely on him. I happen to feel that it does work."
Mr Trump appeared to be struggling with the issue even as he spoke, returning several times to his own belief in the effectiveness of torture even as he stated that he would let Mr Mattis decide.
"But I'm going with our leaders," he said. "We are going to win, with or without."
Then he added, "But I do disagree."
Mr Mattis spent his first week as defence secretary trying to reassure not only American allies, but also military rank and file, that the United States will not abandon a national security structure that has stood in place since the end of World War II. He has told officials in the Pentagon building that at an uncertain time, he intends, as defence secretary, to provide an even-keeled, measured approach to national security issues.
US vetting
"We've taken in tens of thousands of people; we know nothing about them," Trump said Thursday in an interview on Fox News. "They can say they vet them, they didn't vet them. They have no papers. How can you vet somebody when you don't know anything about them and you have no papers? How do you vet them? You can't."
Under the Obama administration, the US focused its refugee admissions on individuals with existing links to America, as well as women and children facing persecution or in desperate need of medical care. The screening process averages 12 to 18 months and includes biometric data and reviews by multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
"If you actually get resettled in the United States, it's literally like winning the lottery," Limon said.
Trump's call to limit refugee admissions has been denounced by human-rights groups, who say vulnerable people seeking to flee religious or political persecution would be denied safe haven. Although Trump has pulled back from statements early in his presidential campaign that he would ban immigration by Muslims, his critics say his policies embrace anti-Muslim sentiment and would erode America's standing around the world.
"We bomb your country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside," Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a statement on Wednesday. "That's a horror movie, not a foreign policy."
The New York Times, Bloomberg