Here’s What Donald Trump Has Said About The Ban On Refugees From Muslim Countries

President Donald Trump had on Friday signed an executive order banning all immigrants from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. Talking about it for the first time on Sunday, Trump said that the ban is aimed at protecting the US from radical Islamic terrorists. Taking a shot at the media, he said it knows but is unwilling to accept that the ban has been initiated to keep America free and safe.

“America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border,” he said in his statement.

Opponents of “extreme vetting” have been protesting against the ban since Friday. Trump also said that his move should not be seen as a blanket ban against all Muslims. There are over 40 Muslim-majority countries in the world and all of them have not been affected, he added. He also accused the media of falsely calling it a Muslim ban.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” he wrote. “This is not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe”. Interestingly, in a statement issued on 7 December 2015, Trump had called for “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.

Trump said that the country would continue show “compassion to those fleeing oppression.” This part of the statement, experts believe, is aimed at the Christian minority in the Middle-East. The community has faced persecution in Muslim-majority countries like Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Pointing towards facts, the president said that his policy is similar to the one used by former President Barack Obama to ban refugees from Iraq for six months. He added that the ban has been imposed on “the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror”.