Trump suspends refugee program for 4 months

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Setting a hard-line tone on national security, President Donald Trump on Friday suspended the nation’s refugee program for four months, aiming to keep “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the United States.

Trump traveled to the Pentagon, where he joined Defense Secretary James Mattis for the signing of an executive action to bring sweeping changes to the nation’s refugee policies and put in motion his plans to build up the nation’s military.

“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas,” he said. “We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.”

The order was signed on Trump’s most robust day of national security and foreign policy at the start of his presidency, marked by a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May and a lengthy phone call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

During his election campaign against Hillary Clinton, Trump pledged to put in place “extreme vetting” procedures to screen people coming to the U.S. from countries with terrorism ties. The order imposes a 120-day suspension of the entire U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and a 90-day ban on all entry to the United States from countries with terrorism concerns.

The State Department said the three-month ban in the directive applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen – all Muslim majority nations.

The order also halts entry to the U.S. by Syrian refugees until the president determines that changes to the refugee assistance program ensure that admitting them won’t compromise national security.

The order makes no mention of a plan to provide safe zones in Syria and the surrounding area. A draft of the order had directed the Pentagon and the State Department to produce a plan for safe zones in the war-torn Mideast nation.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said it would file a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the constitutionality of the executive order.

“There is no evidence that refugees – the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation – are a threat to national security,” said CAIR National Litigation Director Lena F. Masri. “This is an order that is based on bigotry, not reality.”

Trump also signed a presidential memorandum on “rebuilding” the U.S. Armed Forces, giving Mattis 30 days to conduct a “readiness” review and report back on steps that can be taken this year to improve conditions.

Joined earlier in the day at the White House by May, the British prime minister, Trump reaffirmed the United States’ “special relationship” with Great Britain.

But he was also asked about more contentious issues, including his recent statements that torture “does work” in prying information out of terror suspects. Giving ground, he said his defense secretary’s opposition would override his own belief. Hours later he stood at the Pentagon as Mattis, the retired general, was sworn in as the military’s chief.

Trump was also pressed on whether he would revert back to Bush-era use of torture, in the news since The Associated Press and other news organizations obtained copies of a draft executive order signaling sweeping changes to U.S. interrogation and detention policy.

Trump said he would defer to the views of Mattis, who has questioned the effectiveness of such practices as waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

“He has stated publicly that he does not necessarily believe in torture or waterboarding, or however you want to define it. ... I don’t necessarily agree. But I would tell you that he will override because I’m giving him that power. He’s an expert,” Trump said.

The draft order, which the White House said was not official, also would reverse Obama’s effort to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – a place Trump has said he wants to fill up “with bad dudes.”

The draft also requests recommendations on whether the U.S. should reopen CIA detention facilities outside the United States. Critics said the clandestine sites have marred America’s image on the world stage.

Trump held firm Friday on another controversy – trade and illegal immigration from Mexico. He told reporters at a joint news conference with May that he had a “very good call” with Pena Nieto earlier in the day, but he reaffirmed his belief that Mexico has “outnegotiated and beat us to a pulp” on trade – and that would change.