President Donald Trump Bans Citizens Of 6 Countries From Entering The US
President Donald Trump Bans Citizens Of 6 Countries From Entering The US
He said this yesterday as he unveiled his actions on border and national security.
He has indicated temporary ban on immigration from Muslim countries deemed a ‘threat to national security’.
Trump will also sign other domestic immigration enforcement measures that will include targeting sanctuary cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens.
The president posted a tweet on Tuesday evening signaling that major announcements were in the offing.
‘Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow (Wenesday)’, Trump tweeted.
‘Among many other things, we will build the wall!’
The new Trump directives will also stop most refugees including those from Syria coming to America while vetting processes are reviewed.
The one exception is religious minorities fleeing persecution – which would apply to Christians fleeing Syria and other Muslim majority countries.
In total the 6 immediate actions are as follows: Release of funds toward the construction of a wall along the southern border; Target so-called ‘sanctuary’ cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens; Institute a four-month freeze on admission of all refugees.
The US government permitted 38,901 Muslim refugees to enter the country in 2016, nearly half of the total number of refugees it permitted into its borders, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
The figure represents the highest number of Muslim refugees that have been permitted into the US since data on religious affiliation became publicly available in 2002.
It followed increasing escalation in Syria’s bloody civil war, as well as continued instability in Iraq and Afghanistan and the collapse of Libya’s government.
The US allowed nearly the same number of Christians into the country – 37,521.
Fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, was the first time in 10 years that the US admitted more Muslims than Christians.
The majority of the Muslim refugees who entered the US last year were from Syria (12,486) and Somalia (9,012).
The rest came from Iraq (7,853), Burma (3,145) – where Muslims are harshly discriminated against – Afghanistan (2,664), and other countries.
The Obama administration aimed to absorb 10,000 Syrian refugees. Instead, it exceeded the goal by 2,486.
The Six (6) Countries include:
SYRIA
From the outside looking in, Syria appears to be a hornet’s nest of terrorist groups and non-state actors.
A number of these organizations have been fighting the forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in a bloody civil war that has cost the lives of an estimated 500,000 people.
They include Islamic State (ISIS), a jihadist group that has also captured swaths of Iraq; Al-Nusra Front, which is also known as Al-Qaeda in Syria; and Jaysh al-Islam, among others, according to Globalo.
Since 1979, the Syrian government has been put on the State Department’s list as a state sponsor of terrorism.
It is also known for its support of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah.
IRAQ
Iraq has been unstable ever since the 2003 invasion of the country by US forces.
The overthrow of Saddam Hussein paved the way for Shi’ite-led governments to take over, though they have failed to bring order to the country.
Organizations like Islamic State, made up primarily of Sunni gunmen, have filled the vacuum and prevented an orderly post-Saddam transition from taking hold.
ISIS has launched dozens of terrorist attacks that have killed thousands.
IRAN
Iran has been designated by the State Department as ‘the foremost sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world,’ according to CNN.
The US says that Iran has given weapons and cash to organizations like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shi’ite groups, including Kata’ib Hizballah.
Both organizations are designated as terrorist groups by the State Department.
LIBYA
Libya, the North African nation, has been a powder keg in which terrorist organizations have been fighting for control of the country since the NATO-backed ouster of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The US intelligence community says that jihadist organizations have been strengthening their grip on the country, according to The Washington Times.
ISIS has been particularly active there.
‘There are, in addition to ISIL, probably six or eight other terrorist groups that have gathered in Libya,’ James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, told Congress in 2015.
‘So it’s a magnet because, essentially, it’s ungoverned.’
SOMALIA
Somalia is widely regarded as a failed state.
It was ranked as the most fragile country in the world by the Fund for Peace in 2016.
Without a functioning central government, the East African country has disintegrated further into civil war.
Its UN-backed government has been at war with Al-Shabab, a group regarded by both the US and the United Kingdom as a terrorist organization, according to the BBC.
Al-Shabab is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 gunmen from across the Muslim world.
The organization propagates the austere Wahabi version of Islam whose origins lie in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Shabab has imposed strict clerical rule in areas that it has captured in Somalia, where it has stoned women to death for the crime of adultery and amputated the hands of thieves.
SUDAN
Sudan was placed on the State Department’s list of terrorism sponsors in 1993.
At the time, it was alleged that the government harbored figures like Osama bin Laden in addition to fighters from al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Abu Nidal Organization, and Jamaat al-Islamiyya.
In the late 1990s, however, Sudan showed willingness to cooperate with the West in fighting terrorism.
In May 2004, Sudan was removed from a list of countries that were ‘not fully cooperating’ with American anti-terrorism efforts.
However, the Sudanese government remains on the terror sponsor list due to its support of Hamas, the Palestinian group fighting Israel.
YEMEN
Yemen, one of the most impoverished Arab countries, has been in the grip of a civil war fought between forces loyal to the established government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebel movement, according to the BBC.
The Houthis are a Shi’ite political movement that took control of the Yemenite capital in 2014.
Since then, regional forces backed by Sunni governments have tried to roll back their progress, while Shi’ite actors like Iran and Hezbollah have given the Houthis support.
Nearly 7,000 people have died and 35,000 have been wounded since the war erupted in March 2015.
Most of the casualties have resulted from air strikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition – which has the backing of the US.
The country has been wracked by violence and chaos, with al Qaeda launching attacks and separatist movements having taken control of the southern part of the country.
