AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
7 March 2017
USA: Trump’s revised travel ban will stir hatred and division
In response to President Trump’s new Order to reinstate the suspension of the USA’s refugee resettlement programme and
establish a temporary travel ban on people from six majority-Muslim countries, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s
Secretary General, said:
“President Trump’s determined efforts to slam the door on those fleeing the very terror he claims to be fighting will be
remembered among the darkest chapters of US history. The idea that these measures are in the interest of national
security does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.
“This new Order simply reinstates many of the most repellent elements of its predecessor. It tramples on the values the
USA has long claimed to stand for and threatens to dash the hopes of thousands of refugees who were due to be resettled
in the USA.
“Removing the ambiguity about permanent residents is simply an attempt to evade further judicial scrutiny. The
anti-Muslim rationale behind this Order should be evident to anyone familiar with Trump’s long campaign to spread fear
about Muslims.
“These are families that have escaped out of the rubble of Aleppo, or fled the bombs and the famine closing in on Yemen.
They are people fleeing a security threat, and they deserve protection.
“These measures will make nobody safer. Instead they could play directly into the hands of violent extremists claiming
that the US government is at war with Islam.
“The publicity circus surrounding President Trump’s every move must not distract from the fact that longstanding human
rights commitments in the US are being badly eroded. The new Order is wrong-headed and counterproductive, and must be
resisted at every step.”
**ENDS**