Donald Trump was facing a fierce backlash at home and abroad on Saturday following his decision to ban families fleeing the violence in Syria from entering the United States and to temporarily suspend immigration from predominantly Muslim countries.
There was chaos and confusion at airports around America, as customs officials sought to implement the executive order that prevents entry to Syrians indefinitely, all other refugees for four months and bans travellers from seven Middle Eastern countries.
“I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America,” the president said as he signed the order at the Pentagon. “Don’t want them here.”
Even as several foreign governments condemned the decision, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, who has sought to develop close ties with Mr Trump, avoided criticising the president’s actions.
After being asked three times if she condemned the decision to ban families fleeing slaughter in war zones, Mrs May said: “The United States is responsible for the United States’ policy on refugees.”
Lawyers and human rights groups took legal action, filing lawsuits which argued that the orders went against both the spirit of the US constitution and the letter of American law.
The order, which came into force as soon as Mr Trump signed it on Friday afternoon, requires US border officials to turn away any person arriving from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen for the next 90 days, whether or not they have a green card.
With only a few exceptions for diplomats and dual citizens, the order takes no account of whether travellers have already been issued with visas.
In announcing his “extreme vetting” plan, Mr Trump invoked the September 11, 2001 attacks. But most of the 19 plane hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon – all countries not included on the ban list.
Within hours of the order being signed, chaos broke out at airports around the world as officials sought to understand and interpret the new policies.
Mohammed Al Rawi, a graduate of California State University and former journalist with the Los Angeles Times, said his father had been hauled off a flight in Qatar as a direct result of Mr Trump’s decision.
“My 71-year-old dad is in Qatar boarding LAX flight to come visit us and he’s being sent back to Iraq. Some US official told him that Trump cancelled all visas,” he wrote on Facebook hours after the order was signed.
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