US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough new controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries, AFP news agency reports.
Trump said that this is big stuff as he signed an order entitled: “Protection of the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.”
His decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established.
Trump said he was making America safe from “radical Islamic terrorists.”
These new protocols will “ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.”
The order specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.
During the suspensions of the refugee and visa programs, new rules will be devised for what Trump as called the “extreme vetting” of applicants’ backgrounds.
Some exceptions will be made for members of “religious minorities,” which — in the countries targeted by the decree — would imply favourable treatment for Christians.
Civil liberties groups and many counterterror experts condemned the measures, declaring it inhumane to lump the victims of conflict in with the extremists who threaten them.
The order will cut the number of refugees the United States plans to resettle this fiscal year to 50,000 from 110,000.
According to a White House official, countries affected include; the countries impacted are Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, this according to CNN.
Meanwhile, no visas will be issued for 90 days to migrants or visitors from the seven mainly-Muslim countries.
