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Trump Signs Executive Order Barring Muslims From Certain Countries From Entering The U.S. (Updated)
Topic Started: Jan 28 2017, 01:39 AM (879 Views)
Webster
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MSN News: Trump Bars All Refugees, and Citizens From 7 Muslim Nations
Quote:
 
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday closed the nation’s borders to refugees from around the world, ordering that families fleeing Syrian carnage be indefinitely blocked from entering the United States, and temporarily suspending immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.

Declaring the measure part of an extreme vetting plan to “keep radical Islamic terrorists” out of the country, Mr. Trump also ordered that Christians around the globe who are seeking entry into the United States should be granted priority over Muslims, for the first time establishing a religious test for refugees.

“We don’t want them here,” Mr. Trump said of Islamic terrorists during a signing ceremony at the Pentagon. “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump explained to an interviewer for the Christian Broadcasting Network that Christians in Syria were “horribly treated” and alleged that under previous administrations, “if you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible.”

“I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them,” the president said.

The executive order suspends the entry of refugees into the United States for 120 days and directs officials to determine additional screening ”to ensure that those approved for refugee admission do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.”

The order also stops the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and bars entry into the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism. Those countries are: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Additionally, Mr. Trump signed a memorandum on Friday directing what he called “a great rebuilding of the armed services,” saying it would call for budget negotiations to acquire new planes, new ships and new resources for the nation’s military.

“Our military strength will be questioned by no one, but neither will our dedication to peace,” Mr. Trump said.

Announcing his “extreme vetting” plan, the president invoked the specter of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most of the 19 hijackers on the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa., were from Saudi Arabia. The rest were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon. None of those countries is on Mr. Trump’s visa ban list.

Human rights activists roundly condemned Mr. Trump’s actions, describing them as officially sanctioned religious persecution dressed up to look like an effort to make the United States safer.

The International Rescue Committee called it “harmful and hasty.” The American Civil Liberties Union described it as a “euphemism for discriminating against Muslims.” Raymond Offensheiser, the president of Oxfam America, said the order will harm families around the world who are threatened by authoritarian governments.

“The refugees impacted by today’s decision are among the world’s most vulnerable people — women, children, and men — who are simply trying to find a safe place to live after fleeing unfathomable violence and loss,” Mr. Offensheiser said.

The president signed the executive order shortly after issuing a statement noting that Friday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an irony that many of his critics highlighted on Twitter.
...continued in next post....
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Political reaction to Trump’s sacking of Sally Yates is coming in:

--@realDonaldTrump acts like Dick Nixon in firing Sally Yates at "Justice(sic)".She's now an Elliot Richardson hero standing against tyranny (Rep. Steve Cohen, D-TN - 30 Jan. 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Dana Boente has already been sworn in as acting attorney general, the White House confirms, at 9pm ET. He is now authorised to sign foreign surveillance warrants (Yates was previously the only person who could do so).

Boente would not have been the automatic next-in-line to Yates, some have pointed out:
--Also, the next U.S. atty in line of succession was not Boente, but Zach Fardon. Did Trump go forum shopping for one who would follow orders? (Matthew Miller, 30 Jan. 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Sally Yates found out she had been fired via “a hand-delivered letter from the White House’s office of personnel”, the Wall Street Journal reports.
-Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-blames-protesters-delta-sen-charles-schumer-for-airport-chaos-1485781646
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Some support for Trump from Newt Gingrich, who labels Yates “insubordinate” for her judgment that the president’s executive order was not lawful:

--Trump practiced "you're fired for years". Today he applied it to an insubordinate acting atty general. Congratulations. (Newt Gingrich, Fmr. Speaker of the House of Representatives - 30 Jan. 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, says news of Yates’ sacking is “chilling”, pointing out that the attorney general’s duty is to the law and the constitution, rather than to the president:

--The AG should pledge fidelity to the law & the Constitution not the WhiteHouse. The fact that this admin doesnt understand that is chilling. (Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader - 30 Jan. 2017)

Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader in the house, says Trump fired Yates “to get the answer he wants” on the legality of his travel ban: Tonight, the acting attorney general was fired for upholding the constitution of the United States. What the Trump administration calls betrayal is an American with the courage to say that the law and the constitution come first.

President Trump’s executive order violates the constitution, dishonors our values, and weakens the security of the United States. National security experts are warning that the president’s ban will make it harder, not easier to defeat terror.

Earlier tonight, House Republicans blocked Democrats’ emergency bill to rescind this dangerous and unconstitutional executive order. Now, President Trump has fired the acting attorney general to get the answer he wants.

Republicans will have to decide whether they will be complicit in the President’s reckless, wrathful and unconstitutional agenda.

-Read more: http://www.democraticleader.gov/newsroom/13017-2/
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Webster
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(The Guardian) In a sign of the turbulent waters in which Trump is swimming, it is unclear if the new acting attorney general can sign national security surveillance requests.

According to the seminal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the central pillar of domestic national security surveillance law, only the attorney general, deputy attorney general or designated assistant attorney general for national security may sign off on surveillance requests submitted to the secret Fisa court.

But the attorney general and deputy attorney general require Senate confirmation. The assistant attorney general for national security’s designation requires approval by the attorney general. (The justice department’s national security division is currently run by an interim appointee.)

Although the new acting attorney general Dana Boente was confirmed by the Senate as a US attorney in Virginia, it is an unsettled question whether his current interim role gives him sufficient powers for the sensitive surveillance requests.

Mike German, an FBI counterterrorism agent and surveillance law expert, said the Boente appointment had created an “unprecedented” situation for surveillance law, but thought that the Fisa court was unlikely to stand in the way of a surveillance request.

“The Fisa court doesn’t have a long history of finding reasons to reject [requests], and if it were to err here, it’d be on the side of authorizing the new acting attorney general to sign the warrants,” German said.

The White House indicated to pool reporters it believes Boente would possess the requisite surveillance authority.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Trump has also just fired the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Daniel Ragsdale.

A statement from the department of homeland security announces Thomas Holman as the new acting director – but doesn’t mention Ragsdale at all.

No reason for the change is given.
-Read more: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/01/30/statement-secretary-kelly-presidents-appointment-thomas-d-homan-acting-ice-director
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Here’s Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who thinks it “fitting” that “after eight long years of a lawless Obama department of justice” Sally Yates has “force[d] the president to fire her”:

Posted Image
--It is fitting--and sad--that the very last act of the Obama DOJ is for the acting AG to defy the newly elected POTUS(Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX - 30 Jan. 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The Trump administration replaced the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [Ice] just after firing the acting US attorney general as the backlash over the president’s controversial travel ban continues to grow.

Daniel Ragsdale, the acting Ice director who had served under the Obama administration as the agency’s deputy director since 2012, was removed from the acting director role late on Monday night without public explanation.

In a brief statement, Trump’s newly appointed homeland security secretary John Kelly said Ragsdale would be replaced by Thomas Homan, formerly the executive associate director of Ice’s enforcement and removal operations [ERO] division. Homan has served in the agency since its creation in 2003, and in the ERO division, which oversees deportations, since 2009.

Posted Image

“I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest,” Kelly, a former Marine Corps general, said.

Shortly after Kelly’s statement, which made no mention of Ragsdale, Ice confirmed he would remain deputy director of the agency.

Last week the Trump administration vastly expanded the powers of the agency, by broadening immigration enforcement priorities through an executive order. Ice agents are now able to target almost any of American’s 11 million undocumented migrants for deportation. Under the order, the agency can target undocumented migrants convicted of minor crimes, those who have only been accused of crimes, and those whom individual agency deem a threat to public safety or national security.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The new acting attorney general, Dana Boente, has immediately overruled the advice of the previous (now fired) acting attorney general Sally Yates that the president’s travel ban was not lawful and should not be defended.

Justice department lawyers must now defend the order.

--BREAKING: New acting attorney general directs Justice Department to defend Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees. (Associated Press, 30 Jan. 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) New acting attorney general rescinds Yates guidance on travel ban
--The first act of new acting attorney general Dana Boente is to undo the last act of the previous acting attorney general Sally Yates. In a statement, Boente said:

On January 30, 2017, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates issued a memorandum barring Department of Justice Attorney’s [sic] from presenting arguments in defense of the President’s January 27, 2017, Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States”.

At approximately 9.00pm I was asked by the President to serve in the capacity of Acting Attorney General. After having dedicated the last thirty-three years of my life to this Department, I am humbled and incredibly honored to serve as Acting Attorney General.

Based upon the Office of Legal Counsel’s analysis, which found the Executive Order both lawful on its face and properly drafted, I hereby rescind former Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the Department of Justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our President.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has spoken to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Mexico’s government has said.

It said the pair spoke by phone on Monday and agreed to strengthen ties:

Both leaders agreed to keep in close contact and intensify their teams’ work to speed up the integration of a stronger and more prosperous North America.

The statement said Peña Nieto “reiterated the will of the Mexican government to continue reinforcing ties … between the two peoples”.

The new US president has threatened to leave Nafta (the North American Free Trade Agreement) if Mexico and Canada will not renegotiate it.

A meeting last week between Trump and Peña Nieto was cancelled after Mexico once again insisted it would not pay for the US president’s proposed border wall.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Patrick Leahy, ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, has criticised the firing of Sally Yates – and the White House wording of her dismissal: Federal courts have already found President Trump’s immigration order is very likely unconstitutional, and tonight, acting attorney general Yates concluded that it was not legally defensible.

She was fired for recognising that her oath is to the constitution and not to President Trump. His accusation that she has ‘betrayed the department of justice’ is wrong and it is dangerous.

President Trump has now put his cabinet on notice: if you adhere to your oath of office to defend the constitution, you risk your job.

Equally troubling is that his nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, has shown no indication that he has the independence to put the constitution before the president. The Senate at its best can be the conscience of the nation. Senators must oppose Senator Sessions.
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(The Guardian) Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has praised the actions of former acting attorney general Sally Yates after she was fired by Donald Trump for saying his travel ban was not lawful:

It was a profile in courage. It was a brave act and a right act …

How can you run a country like this?
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