Trump’s travel ban not against Muslims: US officials

TIL Desk/World/Washington-Senior Trump administration officials today defended a revised travel ban that prevents people of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, saying the order is not aimed at Muslims but is an effort to safeguard the nation from foreign extremists. “This is not a Muslim ban in any way, shape or form,” a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call after President Donald Trump signed the revised executive order.

“This is a temporary suspension on the entry of nationals from six countries that have either failed states at this point, or that are state sponsors of terror; that we don’t have the ability to make safe, adequate screening and vetting determinations for nationals under current procedures because of those weaknesses,” said the official, who did not want to be identified.

“There are dozens and hundreds of millions, if not one-point-something billion Muslim individuals — followers of the Islamic faith, who are not subject to this executive order, who are free to come to the United States under our visa and — and admissions regime, the same way that they were a week ago, four weeks ago, four months ago, four years ago for the most part,” the official said.