Global backlash grows against Trump’s immigration order
France, Germany, UK: Move is discriminatory • Order restricted by more US judges
BAGHDAD/CAIRO (Reuters) – A global backlash against US President Donald Trump’s immigration curbs gathered strength on Sunday as several countries including long-standing American allies criticized the measures as discriminatory and divisive.
Governments from London and Berlin to Jakarta and Tehran spoke out against Trump’s order to put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily ban travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries. Trump said the move would help protect Americans from terrorism.
Meanwhile, US judges in at least four states blocked federal authorities from enforcing the executive order. Judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington state, each home to major international airports, issued their rulings late Saturday or early Sunday, following an order on Saturday night by US District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York’s Brooklyn borough.
Donnelly had ruled in a lawsuit by two men from Iraq being held at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
While none of the rulings struck down the executive order, the growing number of orders could complicate the administration’s effort to enforce it.
In Germany – which has taken in large numbers of people fleeing the Syrian civil war – Chancellor Angela Merkel said the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for the measures and “does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion,” her spokesman said.
She expressed her concerns to Trump during a phone call and reminded him that the Geneva Conventions require the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds, the spokesman added.
Merkel’s sentiments were echoed in Paris and London; “Terrorism knows no nationality. Discrimination is no response,” said French Foreign
minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, while his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, tweeted: “Divisive and wrong to stigmatize because of nationality.”
Along with Syria, the US ban of at least 90 days affects travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, including those with dual nationality that includes one of those countries.
Trump said his order, which indefinitely bans refugees from Syria, was “not a Muslim ban,” though he added he would seek to prioritize Christian refugees fleeing the country. Washington’s Arab allies, including the Gulf states and Egypt, were mostly silent.
The Arab League on Sunday expressed deep concern over the order, and said the restrictions were unjustified.
The government in Iraq, which is allied with Washington in the battle against Islamic State and hosts more than 5,000 American troops, did not comment on the executive order. But some members of the parliament said Iraq should retaliate with similar measures against the US.
In Baghdad, influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said American nationals should leave Iraq, in retaliation for the travel curbs.
“It would be arrogance for you to enter freely Iraq and other countries while barring to them the entrance to your country... and therefore you should get your nationals out,” he said on his website.
There was no immediate reaction to the curbs from Islamic State, although in the past it has used US monitoring of Muslim foreigners to stoke Muslim anger against Washington.
Iran vowed to respond in kind to the US ban on visitors from Iran, but on Sunday Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that Americans who already hold Iranian visas can enter the country.
“Unlike the US, our decision is not retroactive. All with valid Iranian visa will be gladly welcomed,” Zarif said.
Authorities in Sudan, which is also targeted by the ban, summoned the US chargé d’affaires in Khartoum. They said the order sent a “negative message,” coming two weeks after Washington announced it would ease economic sanctions on the country.
Trump’s executive order on Friday took effect immediately, wreaking havoc and confusion for would-be travelers with passports from the seven countries and plunging America’s immigration system into chaos.
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said “open society, plural identity, no discrimination” were the “pillars of Europe,” while the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian governments also registered their opposition.
Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen tweeted: “The US decision not to allow entry of people from certain countries is NOT fair.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country welcomed those fleeing war and persecution, even as Canadian airlines said they would turn back US-bound passengers to comply with Trump’s immigration ban.
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada,” he tweeted. •