President Donald Trump has barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months, and indefinitely halted any from Syria, saying the ban is needed to keep out radical Islamic terrorists.
The order Friday immediately suspended a program that last year resettled in the U.S. roughly 85,000 people displaced by war in the middle east. Trump indefinitely blocked those fleeing Syria, where a civil war has raged, and imposed a 90-day ban on all immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim majority nations, citing terrorism concerns.
“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas,” Trump said as he signed the order at the Pentagon. “We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.”
Trump said the halt in the refugee program was necessary to give agencies time to develop a stricter screening system. The president directed officials to review the refugee application and approval process and find any more measures that could prevent those who pose a threat from using the refugee program.
