As protests continued to swirl over the temporary immigration ban slapped on refugees and citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations, President Donald Trump has asserted that his executive action is meant to protect America and rejected the criticism that it is a Muslim ban.
“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,” Trump said in a statement on Sunday, adding his order does not target over 40 other Muslim-majority nations across the world.
Significantly, Trump likened his order to President Barack Obama’s six-month ban of refugee visas for Iraqis in 2011, and said the seven countries now targeted – Iran, Iraq, libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – are the very ones “previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror”.
Saying the US will start issuing visas to citizens of these seven countries once more secure policies are implemented over the next 90 days, Trump spoke of his “tremendous feeling” for the victims of Syria’s humanitarian crisis. While his “first priority will always be to protect and serve our country”, Trump said that as President, he would “find ways to help all those who are suffering”.
But Democrats were far from reassured and a top Senator was getting set on Monday to move two Bills to rescind Trump’s immigration order and clip his executive authority. “The first bill immediately rescinds the order. The second limits executive authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is also the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said Democrats, though short of numbers, might well be able to pass legislation overturning the ban if some Republicans came on board. At a news conference in New York on Sunday, an emotional Schumer choked up as he vowed to “claw, scrap and fight with every fibre of my being until these orders are overturned”.
As many as 10 Republican Senators have either voiced their reservations or plainly criticized Trump’s action, but it remains to be seen how many of them will actually vote in support of Feinstein’s Bills. The two sharp critics of Trump within the Republican fold, John McCain and lindsey Graham, said in a joint statement that the executive order will “only embolden terrorists and will do more harm than good”.
Trump lost little time to hit back at the two senior Senators in a Monday morning tweet, calling them wrong and weak on immigration. “The two Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III,” Trump commented in a clear reference to their hawkish positions against Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin.
The White House, meanwhile, sought to get its act together on Sunday after providing little clarity for the whole of Saturday over the detentions of arriving passengers from the seven countries that triggered major protests outside a host of US airports.
Only 109 people out of 325,000 arriving in US airports daily were detained and held for questioning, Trump’s top aides maintained on Sunday talk shows and claimed that the initial confusion was all over and that implementation of the immigration order was now proceeding smoothly.
Trump himself tweeted, “Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world - a horrible mess!” He also rejected suggestions of giving advance notice about his executive order, commenting: “If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad ‘dudes’ out there!”
A senior administration official told reporters during a conference call that the decision was aimed at preventing a Europe-type situation in the US. Referring to the situation existing in parts of France, Germany and Belgium, the official commented that it was “not a situation we want replicated inside the US”.