Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
U.N. condemns order
Officials say Trump violated U.S. obligations.
A panel of U.N. human rights experts said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s sweeping order restricting some travelers and refugees from entering the United States violates the country’s international human rights obligations.
The assessment from the United Nations is the latest in a series of criticism it has volleyed at Trump’s ban, which temporarily closes America’s borders to people from seven Muslim-majority nations and suspends admission for almost all refugees for a 120-day period.
“Such an order is clearly discriminatory based on one’s nationality and leads to increased stigmatization of Muslim communities,” a group of U.N. Special Rapporteurs — experts appointed to study human rights issues — said in a statement.
Trump and officials in his administration have argued since he signed the order Friday that the measure is not a “Muslim ban.”
During the presidential campaign, Trump called for a Muslim ban, a statement that remains on his campaign website, and he said Friday that he would prioritize Christians seeking admission as refugees.
In its statement, the group of U.N. experts alluded to people who have been detained at airports across the country, saying they were worried people flying to the United States “will be subject to detention for an undefined period of time and then ultimately deported.”
A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment.
U.N. officials have spoken out against the ban in sharp terms this week, worrying about its impact on refugees and expressing concerns it could help terrorist groups.
Trump’s order included a temporary entry ban on people from Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.