Trump’s new ban targets same countries
ORDER EXEMPTS GREEN CARD HOLDERS AND THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE VISA
Adraft of President Donald Trump’s revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travellers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they haven’t used it yet.
A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.
The official said that green card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries are exempt. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it’s made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week.
Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon.
Fired for joining protest
Reports, meanwhile, said that more than 100 workers in the US have lost their jobs after taking part in last week’s Day Without Immigrants protest.
Dozens of people, including construction workers and restaurant staff, reported being fired after staying at home last Thursday. The protest aimed to highlight the contribution of immigrants in the US.
One employer told CNN his staff would have to “pay the price” of standing up for what they believed in.
Jim Serowski, of JVS Masonry in Commerce City, Colorado, said he had no regrets after sacking about 30 bricklayers. “They were warned, ‘if you do this you’re hurting the company, and if you go against the team you’re not a member of the team’,” he was quoted as saying.
Among those who said they had lost their jobs were 12 restaurant workers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who spoke to Fox News and 18 employees at a commercial painting company in Nolensville, Tennessee, according to NBC.
Demonstrations were held in cities around the US this weekend to support Muslim Americans and to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
More than a thousand people of various faiths rallied in New York City on Sunday.
The “I Am A Muslim Too” event was held in Times Square and was organised by several groups, including the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
Some protesters waved American flags, while others held signs saying “No Muslim Ban.” Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the peaceful rally, saying “we have to dispel the stereotypes”.
“The message I want to give as Mayor of the city to everyone regardless of background or faith or where you were born is that this is your city and this is your country,” he said.
The Mayor said America was founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution and was founded to respect all faiths and all beliefs.
Attack on all faiths
“This is who we are as Americans and this must be protected. An attack on anybody’s faith is an attack on all people of faith,” he said.
Trump has initiated a crackdown on illegal immigration. He also has called for a temporary ban on people entering the US from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Headlined by American entrepreneur and author Russell Simmons and actress Susan Sarandon, the rally on Sunday saw participation by several faith leaders who denounced the divisive political environment in the country and called on Americans to stand up for Muslims facing increasing threat and pressure.
He said the Muslim community was being used as a scapegoat, but that “diversity will prevail”. Lauding the 900 Muslim members of the New York Police Department, de Blasio said the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are “overwhelming peace loving” people who care about their community.
“We have to dispel the stereotypes” faced by the Muslim community, de Blasio said declaring at the end of his speech that “I’m proud to say today I’m a Muslim too”.
Eminent Sikh-American speaker and activist Simran Jeet Singh said he is supporting the rally “because as a Sikh, we know what discrimination and oppression feels like. We want a world that is acceptable and tolerant”.
Sarandon said given the political environment in the country, it is no longer possible to be neutral. “If you are silent, then you are complacent.
“We are here because we will not be a cog in a machine that is dismantling our constitution, that is dismantling our bills of rights,” she said to loud cheers from the crowd.
In Oregon, hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday in front of the Oregon State Capitol to voice their support for immigration rights.
Yesica Navarro spoke about growing up as an immigrant. She said she came to the US as a child with her family, and they managed to succeed despite the odds,
The Statesman Journal reported. “We love this country, and we want to be accepted. This is our home,” Navarro said.
The crowd, which organisers said neared 1,000, cheered and clapped as cars honked their horns, the newspaper said.
The United States is not about to plunder Iraq’s petroleum reserves, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who arrived in Baghdad yesterday, said as he sought to soothe partners rattled by President Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly said both while campaigning and since his election that America, whose troops occupied Iraq for eight years, should have grabbed Iraqi oil to help fund its war effort and to deprive Daesh of a vital revenue source.
But Mattis appeared to nix the idea.
“All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future,” Mattis told reporters at the start of a visit to Iraq.
“We are not in Iraq to seize anybody’s oil,” he said.
While speaking at the CIA headquarters last month, Trump cited the adage, “To the victor belong the spoils,” and said America “should have kept the oil” after pulling most of its troops out of the country under his predecessor Barack Obama.
The president then added, without elaborating, that “maybe we’ll have another chance”.
Adding to the friction from Trump’s oil comments is his executive order blocking Iraqis from travelling to the United States, part of a decision to stop people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering America for at least 90 days.
The move drew immediate international condemnation and prompted the Pentagon to lobby for special consideration of Iraqis who had supported US troops, such as translators and support staff.
After a federal judge blocked Trump’s travel ban, the White House is planning a new order this week that would tweak it to circumvent the court.
Mattis said he had not seen the new executive order but was confident it would cater to the Iraqis who had served alongside US forces.
“I right now am assured that we will take steps, allow those who have fought alongside us for example to be allowed into the United States,” he said.