Trump's Refugee Ban Will Cause Lasting Damage Worldwide
U.S. refugee resettlement efforts support the stability of allies struggling to host large numbers of refugees.

By The Conversation | Contributor Jan. 30, 2017, at 12:52 p.m.

By Phil Orchard

U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration fundamentally alters decades of bipartisan U.S. practice. It blocks immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and stops all refugee resettlement for at least 120 days.

Trump's justification for the order is:

… the U.S. must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles.

The first element includes blocking any immigration from seven countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for at least 30 days.

The first day after the order was approved dual citizens and U.S. permanent residents – usually called green card holders – were prevented from boarding flights to the U.S. and even detained on arrival. A temporary injunction has provided at least some protections, though it is being applied patchily and only to those people who have already entered the U.S.

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