Trump Signs Action for Extreme Vetting of Immigrants, Zuckerberg Speaks Out

By Elisa Meyer --
30 Jan 2017 --

Trump’s action is against the constitutional spirit of the United States.

A number of executive orders were signed by President Donald J. Trump during his maiden week as President of the United States. Friday he signed an executive order with a 120-day moratorium to be clamped on any refugee trying to enter the United States. This will provide the United States breathing space to come up with a plan which will prioritize entry for Middle Eastern and African Christians.

Trump Signs Action for Extreme Vetting of Immigrants, Zuckerberg Speaks Out[/tweetthis]

According to Trump, these new measures will bar Islamic terrorists from entering the U.S.[/tweetit] New orders involve extreme vetting for every immigrant to the United States. Every visitor will be subjected to stringent security checks.

Trump is also expected to take the action of blocking new refugees from Syria entering the U.S. Citizens of seven countries are now subjected to a 30-day immigration ban. These seven countries: Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria and Somalia have majority Muslim populations. As per data extracted from Pew Research Center, the U.S. had admitted until now 84,995 refugees during the 2016 fiscal year. Syrians accounted for 12,587 of them. Former President Barack Obama had proposed a cap of 110,000 refugees in 2017. Trump has plans to restrict refugee numbers to 50,000. Those who want limits on immigration approve of such steps.

Anthony Romero, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, blasted such schemes as unconstitutional. He said that such “extreme vetting” is actually another way of discriminating against Muslims. He said the action of identifying particular countries having Muslim majorities and creating exceptions for minority religions are against U.S. constitutional principles.

Trump signs executive order for “extreme vetting” to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the USA” https://t.co/3ZpUXlcYpm pic.twitter.com/S2c8LhEI7l
— Robert Spencer (@jihadwatchRS) January 27, 2017

When it comes to the technology sector, arguably the most important industry affected by the ban, a majority of tech leaders have not challenged the Trump administration. The list of notable exceptions includes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The CEO of the social media giant has reminded the president his actions can only be described as unconstitutional. He also used tact and praised a few positive policies implemented by Trump. In his personal Facebook post, Zuckerberg said, there is a need to concentrate on particular people who actually want to harm the United States and not carry a blanket ban over everyone from the country the terrorist hails from. He reminded the president that the U.S. is a land of immigrants.