Learn the lessons of Berlin, says mayor
With a border wall dispute flaring, Donald Trump adds to the furore by approving the ‘extreme vetting’ of refugees.
Setting a hardline tone on national security, US President Donald Trump yesterday ordered strict new screening for refugees, to keep ‘‘radical Islamic terrorists’’ out of the US, and alternated tough talk with kind words in his diplomatic standoff with Mexico.
Trump joined Defence Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon 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.’’
During his election campaign against Hillary Clinton, Trump pledged to put in place ‘‘extreme vetting’’ procedures to screen people coming to the US from countries with terrorism ties. The White House did not immediately release details of the order Trump signed, but a draft called for suspending the issuing of visas to people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 30 days.
Joined earlier in the day at the White House by British Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump reaffirmed the US’s ‘‘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 Mattis’s opposition would override his own beliefs.
Several hours later he stood at the Pentagon as Mattis, a retired general, was sworn in as the military’s chief.
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 . 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 former president Barack Obama’s effort to close the military detention centre 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 US should reopen CIA detention facilities outside the US. Critics say the clandestine sites have marred America’s image on the world stage.
Trump held firm yesterday on another controversy – trade and illegal immigration from Mexico. He told reporters at a joint news conference with May that he had a . . I Europe woke up to the news of Donald Trump being elected president of the United States on November 9. The day was also the 27th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; an irony that did not go unnoticed by many Europeans. Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall on the US border with Mexico had drawn harsh criticism.
Berlin Mayor Michael Muller yesterday became one of the most outspoken foreign critics of Trump’s plans to build the wall.
In a statement published on the city’s official website, Muller was quoted as saying: ‘‘We can simply not accept that all our historic experiences are being thrown into disarray by the ones we have to thank most for our freedom: the Americans.
‘‘I call on the US President to not go down this wrong track of isolation and exclusion.’’ We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.
Donald Trump ‘‘very good call’’ with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto earlier in the day, but he reaffirmed his belief that Mexico had ‘‘outnegotiated and beat us to a pulp’’ on trade – and that this would change.
American commitment to Berlin during the Cold War prevented the city from falling into East German control, and eventually helped to facilitate reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
US President John F Kennedy became an icon for Germans when he declared in 1963: ‘‘Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner)’’. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan famously addressed the Soviet Union’s leadership with the words: ‘‘Tear down this wall.’’
‘‘For that reason I say: Dear Mr President, don’t build this wall,’’ Muller said yesterday.
Should Trump visit German Chancellor Angela Merkel at some point over the next four years, it is unlikely that his visit will draw the public support many of his predecessors received. In a survey conducted last July, only 6.3 per cent of Germans said they were in favour
‘‘We’re no longer going to be the country that doesn’t know what it’s doing,’’ he declared a day after the Mexican leader cancelled a planned visit to Washington in response to Trump’s plans to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it.
While the refugee actions are aimed at thwarting terrorists, the border wall is more for keeping out immigrants trying to enter the US for economic reasons – though Trump has continually also raised concerns about criminals flowing north.
The flurry of national security moves and foreign policy outreach capped a hectic first week for Trump at the White House, giving Americans an initial look at how he intends to position the US around the globe.
Trump, who met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, has the authority to determine how many refugees are accepted annually, and he can suspend the programme at any time.
Refugee processing was suspended in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, but was restarted several months later.
During the past budget year, the US accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria.
Obama had set the refugee limit for this budget year at 110,000. Trump, according to the draft of of a Trump presidency.
‘‘Berlin – the city which stands for the separation of Europe as well as the freedom of Europe – cannot watch silently as another country plans to build a wall,’’ Muller said.
‘‘We in Berlin know best how much suffering the separation of a continent by a wall or a barbed wire fence can cause. Millions of people had their chances in lives destroyed because of it.’’
Calling the fall of the Berlin Wall an ‘‘hour of glory’’ of the 20th century, Muller said: ‘‘[Walls] cause harm and oppression everywhere where they still exist – for instance, in Korea or Cyprus.’’
With elections looming in a number of European countries this year – including Germany and France – some fear that Trump could now fuel new ideological divisions between populist government and more liberal ones. the executive action, plans to cut that to 50,000.
The draft order says that while the programme is suspended, the US may admit people on a caseby-case basis ‘‘when in the national interest’’.
The government will also continue to process refugee requests from people claiming religious persecution, ‘‘provided that the religion . . . is a minority religion in the individual’s country’’. This suggests it would allow the admission of Christians from Muslim-majority countries.
In an interview with CBN News, Trump said persecuted Christians would be given priority in applying for refugee status. ‘‘We are going to help them,’’ he said. ‘‘They’ve been horribly treated.’’
While it was applauded by some in his Republican Party, Trump’s refugee action was strongly criticised by some Democrats.
‘‘Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight as a grand tradition of America, welcoming immigrants, that has existed since America was founded has been stomped upon,’’ said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
‘‘Taking in immigrants and refugees is not only humanitarian but has also boosted our economy and created jobs decade after decade. This is one of the most backward and nasty executive orders that the president has issued.’’
Trump’s order was signed on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which brought to mind the global effort to help refugees during World War II and its aftermath.
On another international issue, Trump is expected to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow.
During the news conference with May, Trump was asked if he was considering lifting US sanctions against Russia. He was non-committal, saying: ‘‘We’ll see what happens. As far as the sanctions, very early to be talking about that.’’
May said the United Kingdom supported continuing the sanctions for now.
Two top Senate Republicans – John McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Rob Portman, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee – warned the White House about easing any punishments on Moscow, and vowed to act to turn the sanctions into law if Trump did not ‘‘reject such a reckless course’’.