Trump Signs Sweeping Order on Refugees
CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: A temporary ban on refugees. President Donald Trump promised to protect American borders during the campaign and now he is delivering. Plus, Theresa May did a lot of talking after her meeting with Mr. Trump. How she may have changed his mind on NATO. And he gave us The Elephant Man and so many other great performances. Legendary British film star Sir John Hurt passed away. Hi everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier in Atlanta, and CNN Newsroom starts right now. President Donald Trump is taking swift and sweeping action against refugees and immigrants. He says it's to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States. Let's take a look at what changes with the executive order that he signed on Friday. People from seven predominantly Muslim nations are barred from entering the U.S. for three months. The target countries Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The orders also suspends the U.S. refugee admissions program for four months. Syrian refugees for their part are barred from the U.S. indefinitely. And people holding certain visas will now have to undergo in-person interviews in order to renew them. All right. Jim Acosta is joining us now, senior White House correspondent. Jim, Donald Trump campaigned on controlling boarders and a tougher vetting of people coming into the U.S. He's delivering on that promise.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Cyril. He is. But make no mistake, these are some very sweeping actions coming from the new president. He signed this executive order earlier in the day over at the pentagon. We just got our hands on the executive order. This is it right here. But the actions are fairly dramatic. He is talking about suspending visas for people coming into the United States from seven countries that have links to terrorism, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia are among those seven countries. Those visas have been suspended for 90 days as part of this action. They're also implementing what they're referring to as extreme vetting methods for people coming into the United States from terror-prone parts of the world. That would include biometric scanning, more lengthy interview process. It's going to be a much more draconian step that's being taken here as part of that extreme vetting process. And then I think that the part that is really going to send shock waves around the world, and that is the suspension of the U.S. refugee program. This is for political refugees, religious refugees coming into the United States. That program is suspended for 120 days while they get these new measures up and running. And permanently ended by the Trump administration is the Syrian refugee program which was bringing in people from that part of the world under the Obama administration. That program now ends and so you will not have Syrian refugees coming into this country as part of this executive order. So it is a very sweeping decision coming from the president.</s>VANIER: Jim, you mentioned religious refugees. During the campaign, Donald Trump raised a lot of eyebrows and got a lot of criticism for advocating a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. To what extent is this executive order a Muslim ban?</s>ACOSTA: Well, all the countries listed in that temporary ban on those visas coming into the country for 90 days, those are all Muslim majority countries. And so, you have critics already coming out and making statements about this, Senator Kamala Harris from California, she's a brand-new senator but she's been talked about as a potential 2020 candidate and the next election if you can believe it we're still talking about that. Even though Donald Trump has just entered the white house. But she said make no mistake in a statement tonight, this is a Muslim ban. The senate minority leader Chuck Schumer put out a statement saying that there are tears rolling down the cheeks of the statue of liberty. So Democrats are really up in arms about this. But as you said, this is something President Trump campaigned on repeatedly throughout the election. He is delivering on that promise. But we're going to have to find out what the details are in the coming days. The White House issued this executive order, put out this paper statement to everybody detailing somewhat what is in here but there's still lots of open-ended questions that the White House did not sit down with reporters and give us a briefing. That is something you would have seen in the previous administration. We did not get that today. So, lots of questions about what the president decided to do with his executive order, Cyril.</s>VANIER: And look, Jim, just before I let you go to be clear, different categories of immigrants refugees are barred from entering the U.S. different periods of time while procedures are reviewed. That's what it says in the executive order. Is it possible in your mind that, you know in, two, three, four months things will be back to business as usual once that review is complete?</s>ACOSTA: It's possible. It is possible. We just don't know at this point. And one thing that we should point out about this 90-day suspension of visas coming in from seven countries that have ties to terrorism, those seven countries may not be all of them. We've been talking to White House officials this evening who said that there may be more countries added to this list. And so, make no mistake. This is a very aggressive action that's being taken by the Trump administration. They talked at length during this executive order, at the top of this executive order about 9/11. Something that occurred 16 years ago. And so, President Trump campaigned during that election cycle as someone who was going to crack down and ramp up the war on terrorism, the war on ISIS. And this is just the beginning of that process, I think.</s>VANIER: All right. Jim Acosta, senior White House correspondent. Thank you very much for your time.</s>ACOSTA: Thank you.</s>VANIER: And CNN's U.S. security analyst Juliette Kayyem served -- who served in the U.S. Department of Homeland and Security under President Obama told me earlier that the U.S. has never seen anything quite like this.</s>JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN'S U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: This is a order or series of executive orders by President Trump that are using national security in 9/11, the memory of 9/11. In fact, 9/11 is referenced three times in the executive order to justify sweeping refugee ban, immigration ban, country-specific ban that we've never seen proposed before, that we've never seen anything quite like it in the United States. It's a pretty historic moment and not in a good way I would say for the United States today.</s>VANIER: Did the vetting process for the immigrants or refugees deserve to be tightened in any way?</s>KAYYEM: Well, look, I think any vetting or immigration process is constantly changing having served in the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that does this work. You're constantly trying to make things better, make them tighter, quicker, more efficient, as well. So there's no question that any of these programs could get better, but the idea that you end it in the process of trying to reform it would never have crossed I think anyone's mind either in the Bush administration or the Obama administration. For one, it is, you know, obviously the statement it makes to the world about who the United States is and who they'll accept. But the other is the terror threat even assuming that that's what this is about, the terror threat is not country-specific at this stage. France certainly knows that. Belgium knows that. Germany knows that. We know that a lot of the terror threat is actually coming homegrown and we've seen it in the United States.</s>VANIER: But have there been instances where either refugees or immigrants posed a terror threat or helped a U.S. national who posed a terror threat?</s>KAYYEM: No, there's not. So they said the only case that you have actually in the last couple of decades is of course the San Bernardino case where she came in on not on a refugee visa but actually on a marital or fiance visa, the wife of -- and the couple that killed in San Bernardino. So that's one case out of millions.</s>VANIER: So how many people are we actually talking about? Well, here's a look at the number of immigrants that the U.S accepted last year from the seven countries targeted by the executive order. A little more than 12,000 refugees coming from Syria. More than 9,000 each from Iraq and Somalia. Much smaller numbers as you can see from Iran, Sudan and Yemen. And just one person from Libya in 2016. And one more number for you to remember, about 110,000 refugees came in in 2016. That, of course, was under the Obama administration. When this program resumes, the Trump administration has signaled that it is willing to take in less than half of that, 50,000. The three-month ban on refugees provoked several angry responses. A statement from New York mayor Bill de Blasio said, "These policies do not reflect the values of the United States or of New York City. We must continue to embrace refugees in need who are victims of terror not terrorists. We must protect and celebrate religious pluralism. In this great city of immigrants, we will remain true to our values and always welcome all who yearn to breathe free." This reaction now from Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, "I am heart broken that America is turning its back on a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants. The people who helped build your country, ready to work hard in exchange for a fair chance at a new life." And this from the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society which aids refugees from Muslim countries, "By halting immigration and refugee resettlement from targeted countries, the administration would be splitting up families who have parents and children in the process of approval for immigration and refugee resettlement." On the same topic, Google is warning its employees from the affected countries to stay in the United States. CNN obtained an internal advisory that was said in a frequently asked questions format. One question asks, "I'm a national of a listed country and in the U.S., should I cancel my travel abroad?" Google says, "Please do not travel outside of the U.S. until the ban is lifted." You see it there. Another question asks, "What if I have urgent international business travel plans?" Well, Google answers pretty unequivocally saying, "Please cancel your trip as you will not be able to reenter the U.S. until the ban is lifted." Joining me now, J.D. McCrary, executive director of the International Rescue Committee that helps resettle refugees here in the United States. You have about a decade of work under your belt working with refugees. What's your reaction to what we heard on Friday, the executive order suspending the arrival of all refugees for a period of time to the U.S.?</s>J.D. MCCRARY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: It is an unfortunate day for the United States. America has shut its door and betrayed its very founding of welcoming the stranger and being a cornerstone of refuge for the world's most persecuted.</s>VANIER: But you understand the security concern that drives the executive order which is to vet the procedures until such time as the government is confident that all people who are going to be coming in will be people who are safe for the U.S to welcome?</s>MCCRARY: Correct. But the truth is that vetting process was already well-established and had a long history of working very effectively.</s>VANIER: So, you've dealt with this issue. You know about the requirements to accept refugees into the U.S. Have you, at any stage, ever felt well, this deserves some tightening? We should take a closer to look at these people.</s>MCCRARY: Absolutely not. We are welcoming mothers and children and fathers and they are the very people who are fleeing the persecution that the president outlined today that we are trying to avoid. These are folks who have also been through that and are seeking a safe refuge to start over here in America.</s>VANIER: But if you look at what happened in Europe, for instance, and there was a flow of refugees coming in particular from -- but not only from the Middle East from, Syria, going to Europe. And we know because ISIS said as much that terror groups wanted to use that opportunity to get some of their people infiltrated into Western Europe to carry out attacks and strengthen their networks. Do you understand the concern there, that that could happen in the U.S?</s>MCCRARY: That is correct. But it could not happen in the U.S. because there is a path to Europe that does not involve the extensive vetting that American refugees go through before they arrive here into the United States.</s>VANIER: So you're saying they're already -- essentially much better vetted when they come here.</s>MCCRARY: Much more so. Much more so. We know exactly who they are, we know exactly where they're from, we know exactly what they've been through. They have been -- their names, their contact information, all of their data has been put through every security and in law enforcement database that the United States has. It is impossible to make it all the way through the vetting process and wish to cause harm in the United States.</s>VANIER: What are you hearing from the refugees?</s>MCCRARY: They are very concerned. They're very concerned for their families. Specifically the Syrians, for instance, they have families in Syria, in the refugee camps, in Turkey, in Lebanon, in Jordan. They may also have family in Europe and they're all spread out through the process as well. So they're very concerned that they may not see their families ever again.</s>VANIER: Now, certain categories of refugees are to be prioritized under the new refugee policy of this administration, and that's the religious minorities. That means essentially that's going to ensure that Christians from the Middle East are prioritized over Muslims. Is that something that concerns you?</s>MCCRARY: It's not that Christians don't face persecution as well, but the entire United States system is based on need. And the most vulnerable people, the most vulnerable families, the most vulnerable individuals in any specific situation are then offered the opportunity for refuge. So it's unfortunate to pull out a specific religion, a specific ethnicity, a specific nationality and prioritize them over someone else who is also in desperate need.</s>VANIER: All right. J.D. McCrary, thank you very much for your voice. We needed to hear from the refugee community and from people who work with them.</s>MCCRARY: Thank you.</s>VANIER: When we come back after the break. U.S. President Donald Trump hosts British Prime Minister Theresa May. What the two leaders had to say about Russia and NATO ahead.