The 45th president has taken a series of actions in his first full week that have sent opponents of his agenda into an absolute frenzy. How can he do all this? The answer is simple: He’s implementing exactly the sorts of ideas that got him elected.
Marking a draconian shift in US policy, Donald Trump issued an executive order that will deny refugees and immigrants from certain Muslim-majority countries entry to the United States. Trump’s unprecedented action will indefinitely close US borders to refugees fleeing the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria and impose a de facto ban on Muslims traveling to the US from parts of the Middle East and North Africa by prioritizing refugee claims “on the basis of religious-based persecution”.
President Trump’s executive order on immigration indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, refugees or otherwise, from entering the United States for 90 days: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The order unleashed chaos on the immigration system and in airports in the United States and overseas, and prompted protests and legal action.
The president reiterated that the U.S. would resume issuing visas to all countries after implementing the “most secure policies over the next 90 days” and compared his order to action taken by then-President Obama in 2011.
On Saturday night, a federal judge in Brooklyn blocked part of Mr. Trump’s order, saying that refugees and others being held at airports across the United States should not be sent back to their home countries. But the judge stopped short of letting them into the country or issuing a broader ruling on the constitutionality of Mr. Trump’s actions.
Federal judges in three states — Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington — soon issued similar rulings to stop the government from removing refugees and others with valid visas. The judge in Massachusetts also said the government could not detain the travelers.
On Sunday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said it would comply with the rulings while it continued to enforce all of the president’s executive orders. “Prohibited travel will remain prohibited,” it said in a statement.
Hundreds lined Pennsylvania Ave. chanting “No hate! No fear! Refugees are welcome here.” Others at Dulles International Airport created a cheering section for travelers emerging from customs.
Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, appeared to reverse a key part of President Trump’s immigration order on Sunday, saying that people from the affected countries who hold green cards will not be prevented from returning to the United States.
But Priebus also said that border agents had “discretionary authority” to detain and question suspicious travelers from certain countries. That statement seemed to add to the uncertainty over how the executive order will be interpreted and enforced in the days ahead.
Even with his statement, much of the order was still being enforced, and travel was disrupted for many around the world.
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