Washington
(AFP) - President Donald Trump will continue to protect the rights of lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people in the workplace, the White House said
Tuesday. In
the face of widespread criticism, President Donald Trump has staunchly defended
his order temporarily banning refugees and nearly all citizens from seven
Muslim-majority countries. But in a statement Sunday and tweets Monday, Trump
misstated the facts multiple times.
What
Trump said and how it compares with the facts:
TRUMP:
In a Twitter message Monday, he said: “Only 109 people out of 325,000 were
detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by
Delta computer outage.
”THE
FACTS: According to a federal law enforcement official briefed on the
implementation of the order, nearly 400 green-card holders actually were
delayed after arriving at U.S. airports after the travel ban was signed. As of
Sunday afternoon, one legal permanent resident had been denied entry as a
result of the order, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because the person wasn’t allowed to discuss the matter publicly.
Delta
Airlines did report a computer problem that forced the cancellation of more
than 150 flights on Sunday. The chaos and protests at airports around the
country began before that happened and were related to the travel ban, not
delayed or cancelled flights.
TRUMP:
In a White House statement Sunday, he said, “My policy is similar to what
President (Barack) Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from
Iraq for six months.” THE
FACTS: That’s not exactly what happened. According to State Department data,
9,388 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States during the 2011 budget
year. The data also show that Iraqi refugees were admitted every month during
the 2011 calendar year.
The
Obama administration did slow processing for Iraqi nationals seeking refuge in
the U.S. under the government’s Special Immigrant Visa program for translators
and interpreters who worked with American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That
happened after two Iraqi nationals were arrested on terrorism-related charges.
But that year, 618 Iraqis were allowed to enter the U.S. with that special
visa.
Government
data show that during the 2011 budget year, more than 7,800 Iraqis were allowed
into the United States on non-immigrant visas, including tourists.
TRUMP:
In the same statement, he said, “The seven countries named in the Executive
Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration
as sources of terror.”
THE
FACTS: That is misleading. The Republican-led Congress in 2015 voted to require
visas and additional security checks for foreign citizens who normally wouldn’t
need visas such as those from Britain if they had visited the seven
countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. This was
included in a large spending bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed
by Obama.
As
the law was enacted, the Obama administration announced that journalists, aid
workers and others who traveled to the listed countries for official work could
apply for exemptions. There were no special U.S. travel restrictions on
citizens of those seven countries.
TRUMP,
also in Sunday’s statement: “To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the
media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion this is about terror
and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide
that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.”
THE
FACTS: Trump is right that there are many majority-Muslim countries that have
not been included in the travel ban. But he’s also being misleading. The
executive order signed Friday does not specifically say Muslims can’t visit the
U.S., but it does create a temporary total travel ban for citizens of seven
majority-Muslim countries. It also indefinitely bans Syrians.
Former
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently told Fox News that Trump had asked
him to create a plan for a Muslim ban that would meet legal tests. Giuliani
said he ultimately made recommendations that focused on security and what
countries posed security threats.
TRUMP:
The president also tweeted: “If the ban were announced with a one week notice,
the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad ‘dudes’
out there!”
THE
FACTS: The immigration system doesn’t allow the kind of “rush” Trump is
describing. There are 38 countries, mostly European, whose citizens can visit
the U.S. without a visa. But they must be approved for travel in advance by
supplying background information to the U.S. government. Any other foreigner
looking to visit or move to America for school or work has to get in line for a
visa and be subjected to a variety of background checks, including reviews by
federal law enforcement and intelligence. Before Trump’s executive order was
signed, some people were eligible to skip an in-person interview if they met a
variety of requirements.
And
the U.S. can always stop a foreigner from boarding a U.S.-bound flight or
cancel a visa upon someone’s arrival. A visa is not a guarantee that a
foreigner will be allowed into the U.S.
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