UNITED States President, Donald Trump, signed a sweeping new executive order Friday to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough new controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries.
Making good on one of his most controversial campaign promises, and to the horror of human rights groups, Trump said he was making America safe from “radical Islamic terrorists.”
“This is big stuff,” he declared at the Pentagon, after signing an order entitled: “Protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.”
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The White House did not immediately make the wording of the decree public, but a draft text had been leaked to US media earlier in the week and was widely reported on.
According to this unconfirmed version, Trump’s decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established.
In addition, it specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.
Meanwhile, no visas will be issued for 30 days to migrants or visitors from seven mainly-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
