Trump's crackdown draws protests, retaliation abroad
LONDON -- President Trump’s suspension of all immigration for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days, and his 120 day suspension on the U.S. refugee program, are drawing increasing fire from around the globe.
Iraq’s lawmakers are hitting back with a ban of their own and more than one million Britons have demanded their government cancel Mr. Trump’s planned state visit to the U.K. later this year.
Those developments come as American embassies in Europe warn people from the seven affected countries not to bother showing up for U.S. visa appointments, and as the United Nations human rights chief derides Mr. Trump’s moves as illegal under international law.
Mr. Trump’s executive order includes a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, and a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program.
While the leaders of some of Europe’s far-right, fringe political groups -- which have gained traction in recent years as the European Union grapples with a refugee crisis and in the wake of several deadly terror attacks in France and elsewhere -- havelauded the moves, the majority reaction from abroad to Mr. Trump’s moves has been negative.
Iraq
Two lawmakers said Monday that the Iraqi parliament had approved a “reciprocity measure” after President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning citizens from Iraq from entering the United States.
The measure, adopted by lawmakers at a Monday session of parliament, is to apply to Americans entering Iraq.
Lawmakers Kamil al-Ghrairi and Mohammed Saadoun told The Associated Press that the decision is binding for the government. Both said the decision was passed by a majority of votes in favor, but couldn’t offer specific numbers. No further details were available on the wording of the parliamentary decision.
It was also not immediately clear who the ban will apply to -- American military personnel, non-government and aid workers, oil companies and other Americans doing business in Iraq.
It was also not known if and how the Iraqi measure would affect cooperation in the U.S.-backed fight against ISIS militants in Mosul.
Britain
The British government’s plans to honor President Trump with a state visit later this year are sparking increasing opposition following his order on immigration.
A state visit involves lavish pomp and ceremony, often with a stay at Buckingham Palace hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
The three major opposition parties have all called for the state visit to be canceled and an online petition opposing the trip passed the 1 million signatures mark on Monday.
That far exceeds the 100,000 required to mandate a debate in Parliament. The public petitions, hosted on a government website, do not mandate any action beyond the deliberation in parliament, however, regardless of how many people sign.
Last year Parliament debated whether to ban Mr. Trump, then a candidate, from visiting the United Kingdom after a similar online petition was filed.
United Nations
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, who rarely uses Twitter, took to President Trump’s preferred means of communication on Monday to deride the U.S. leader’s immigration and travel crackdown as “forbidden” and “mean-spirited.”
Al-Hussein, a former Jordanian ambassador to the U.N., said, “discrimination on nationality alone is forbidden under human rights law,” and added that, “the U.S. ban is also mean-spirited and wastes resources needed for proper counter-terrorism.”
African Union
Three of the nations whose citizens are now banned from entering the United States are in Africa -- Libya, Sudan and Ethiopia -- prompting the leader of the African Union to warn of “turbulent times” ahead for her continent.
“The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries,” AU commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told people gathered from the 54 member states for a summit in Ethiopia’s capital. “What do we do about this? Indeed, this is one of the greatest challenges to our unity and solidarity.”
Border confusion
The U.S. Embassies in London and Berlin have advised people from the seven countries affected by President Donald Trump’s travel ban not to seek a visa, or schedule an appointment - even if they are a dual nationals.
The statement posted on the London embassy’s website on Monday issued the guidance to “aliens from the countries of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.”
It says, “if you are a national, or dual national, of one of these countries, please do not schedule a visa appointment or pay any visa fees at this time.”
There has been widespread confusion about whether the ban applied to dual nationals, but administration officials attempted to clarify later on Sunday that dual nationals and U.S. green card holders, at least, or “lawful permanent residents” as the head of Homeland Security said, would be allowed in after questioning.
Turned away
Air France has blocked 15 passengers from Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. because they would have been refused entry under President Trump’s new immigration ban.
Air France said in a statement it was informed Saturday by the U.S. government of the new restrictions, and had no choice but to stop the passengers from boarding U.S.-bound flights.
An airline spokeswoman said Monday that the passengers were taken back to their point of departure or otherwise taken care of. She would not provide the passengers’ names, nationalities or other details.
The company earlier had reported that 21 passengers had been turned away, but then corrected its count.
