NEW YORK (AP) — Google, Apple and other tech giants expressed dismay over an executive order on immigration from President Donald Trump that bars nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

The U.S tech industry relies on foreign engineers and other technical experts for a sizeable percentage of its workforce. The order bars entry to the U.S. for anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

The move, ostensibly intended to prevent extremists from carrying out attacks in the U.S., could now also heighten tensions between the new Trump administration and one of the nation’s most economically and culturally important industries. That’s especially true if Trump goes on to revamp the industry’s temporary worker permits known as H-1B visas, as some fear.

“I share your concerns” about Trump’s immigration order, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a memo to employees obtained by The Associated Press. “It is not a policy we support.”

“We have reached out to the White House to explain the negative effect on our coworkers and our company,” he added.

Cook didn’t say how many Apple employees are directly affected by the order, but said the company’s HR, legal and security teams are in contact to support them. “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do,” Cook wrote — an apparent reference not only to the company’s foreign-born employees, but to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the son of a Syrian immigrant.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was forcefully blunt. “Trump’s actions are hurting Netflix employees around the world, and are so un-American it pains us all,” he wrote on Facebook . “Worse, these actions will make America less safe (through hatred and loss of allies) rather than more safe.”

“It is time to link arms together to protect American values of freedom and opportunity,” he continued. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg criticized the order in similar, though more carefully couched, terms on Friday .

Technology investor Chris Sacca, an early backer of Uber and Instagram, said on Twitter that he would match ACLU donations up to $75,000 after the organization sued over the ban — and then decided to donate another $75,000 , for a total of $150,000. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar, the child of Iranians, complained that the order was “simple bigotry .”

Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has recently appeared to be cultivating a relationship with Trump, tweeted that “many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US” who don’t “deserve to be rejected.” Musk is an immigrant from South Africa.

Google told its employees from those countries to cancel any travel plans outside the U.S. and to consult with the company’s human resources department if they’re not currently in the U.S., according to a company-wide note described to The Associated Press. That memo was first reported by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in the note that at least 187 Google workers could be affected by Trump’s order. It is not clear how many of those workers are currently traveling outside the U.S. “We’ve always made our views on immigration known publicly and will continue to do so,” Pichai said in the memo.

Company representatives declined to discuss the memo or to answer questions about the affected employees. In an official statement, Google said: “We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S.”

Microsoft also said it is providing legal advice and assistance to its employees from the banned countries, noting they are all working in the U.S. lawfully.

The tech industry may be bracing for further immigration-related hits. Leaks of draft executive orders, still unverified, suggest that Trump might also revamp the H1-B program that lets Silicon Valley bring foreigners with technical skills to the U.S. for three to six years.

While the tech industry insists the H1-B program is vital, it has drawn fire for allegedly disadvantaging American programmers and engineers, especially given that the visas are widely used by outsourcing firms. Trump’s attorney general nominee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, is a long-time critic of the program.

Venky Ganesan, a managing director at venture capitalist firm Menlo Ventures, acknowledged that the program is “not perfect” and subject to some abuse, but noted that it provides an invaluable source of skilled workers and plays a “pivotal” role in the tech industry.

“If we want to buy American and hire American, we do that best by creating companies in America,” he said. :Having the best and brightest from all over the world come and create companies in America is better than them creating companies in India, Israel or China.”

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>President Donald Trump on Friday intended to sign an executive action Friday temporarily halting the flow of refugees into the United Sates and stopping all entries from some majority-Muslim nations, his spokesman said.

A draft of the order obtained by The Associated Press also includes an indefinite ban on accepting Syrian refugees, and the pause in the broader refugee program extends for 120 days.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to put in place "extreme vetting" procedures particularly for people coming to the U.S. from countries with terrorism ties. According to the draft order, the president plans to suspend issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 30 days.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump intended to sign the order during a Friday afternoon visit to the Pentagon, along with actions related to military readiness and the National Security Council. Details of those directives were not immediately clear.

While at the Pentagon, Trump was expected to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and attend a ceremonial swearing-in for Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Trump has the authority to determine how many refugees are accepted annually; he can suspend the program at any time. Refugee processing was suspended in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and restarted months later.

During the last budget year, the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria. President Barack Obama had set the refugee limit for this budget year at 110,000.

Trump, according to the impending executive order, planned to cut that program by more half to 50,000. The draft order said while the program is suspended, the U.S. may admit people on a case-by-case basis "when in the national interest" and the government would continue to process refugee requests from people claiming religious persecution, "provided that the religion ... is a minority religion in the individual's country." That suggests that would allow the admission of Christians from Muslim-majority countries.</s>With public opinion swinging behind the cause, numbers of would-be fighters have soared far beyond what Tehran is prepared to deploy in Syria, according to former fighters who spoke to Reuters, and commanders quoted by Iranian media.

Iran has been sending fighters to Syria since the early stages of the five-year war to support its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, in the struggle against Sunni rebels backed by Gulf Arab states and Western powers.

Once Tehran described these forces as military "advisers" but with around 400 killed on the battlefield, this discretion has slipped and several thousand are now believed to be fighting Islamic State and other groups trying to topple Assad.

Many Iranians initially opposed involvement in the war, harbouring little sympathy for Assad. But now they are warming to the mission, believing that Islamic State is a threat to the existence of their country best fought outside Iran's borders.

"The first line for the security of Iran is Syria and Iraq," a would-be volunteer named Mojtaba told Reuters by email from Tehran. Mojtaba, who asked that he be identified by only his first name, said he had been trying in vain to get out to fight in Syria for the past two years.

While Islamic State still holds large areas of Syria and Iraq, it has so far failed to stage attacks in neighbouring Iran like it has in Turkey.

Nevertheless, Iranian media have reported the breaking up of cells linked to the jihadist group at home, and the large numbers of people such as Mojtaba willing to join the battle in Syria suggest Tehran has the stamina to pursue its involvement there for years if it wishes.

Iran alludes to its fighters in Syria as "defenders of the shrine", a reference to the Sayeda Zeinab mosque near Damascus, which is where a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad is said to be buried, as well as other shrines revered by Shi'ites.

It is casting its recruitment net wide. As well as Iranians, it has gathered Shi'ites from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to battle the Syrian opposition in what has become a sectarian conflict.

Brigadier General Mohsen Kazemeini, the Revolutionary Guard Corps commander for greater Tehran, said last month there were so many volunteers that "only a small number of them are sent to (Syria)", according to the Defa Press site.

Fighters killed in Syria are praised as heroes on state television and given lavish funerals. Iranian wrestler Saeed Abdevali dedicated the bronze medal he won at the Rio Olympics to the families of "defenders of the shrine" who have been killed.

Some volunteers, disappointed at the long waiting list, take a shortcut. They fly directly to Damascus and volunteer at the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, according to postings on Modafeon, a web site dedicated to news and pictures of the "defenders".

The potent message of protecting the shrines has drawn in Shi'ite Afghans, some of whom live in Iran and others in Afghanistan. These Afghans fighting in Syria under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards are known as the Fatemiyoun.

A 26-year old Afghan student living in Mashad in northeast Iran described how he was sent with other Fatemiyoun to fight in Damascus and Aleppo for about 45 days after limited training.

"My motivation is the same as the Iranians," the student, who asked not to be identified because of security concerns, said. "We are both fighting in Syria, so it shows our cause is far beyond geographic borders. We are fighting to defend our sacred beliefs and Shi'ite ideology."

Asked if he thought Iranian society had grown more welcoming to those who fight in Syria, he said "One hundred percent. When I was deployed, people were saying that they were doubtful if our fight would change anything. But now they respect the fighters more, as they are more familiar with the threats the rebels in Syria and Iraq can cause to Iran."

He said that pay, or the promise of gaining Iranian citizenship upon their return from the battlefield, are also incentives for some Afghans to volunteer. The Afghan fighters get about $450 (£347 pounds) a month, according to a Fatemiyoun commander interviewed by the Tasnim news site.

Senior officials regularly discuss the role of the Revolutionary Guards and Iranian special forces in Syria in terms of confronting the existential threat that mostly Shi'ite Iran faces from Sunni militant groups such as Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said this appealed more to public opinion than support for Assad.

"Fighting Shi'ite-hating bloodthirsty ISIS jihadists is easier to sell to Iranians than wasting billions on a ruthless dictator who gasses his population," he said.

A video regularly featured on Iranian state television shows a group of children wearing fatigues and combat boots singing about a religious duty to fight in Syria.

"The red lines around the shrine are made of my blood," they sing. Children under 18 may go to Syria to serve in non-combat support roles as long as they are accompanied by a guardian, according to postings on the Modafeon web site.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described the wars in Syria and Iraq, where Iranian-backed authorities are also fighting Sunni militants, as crucial to the survival of the Islamic Republic. If Iranians had not gone and died fighting there, "the enemy would enter the country", he said,

This perception has won over many doubters. Sasan Sabermotlagh, a 34-year-old decorator in Tehran, said he was initially "100 percent" against the war, but he and many others he knows had changed their mind.

Despite Iran's often fraught relations with the West, Sabermotlagh cited attacks staged by Islamic State in Europe in recent months. "Now that people completely know (Islamic State) and after the incidents in France, Germany and elsewhere, you can say that 90 percent of the people who criticised the 'defenders of the shrine' don't anymore," he said.

Sabermotlagh even considered joining the fight. "When I see the videos and the pictures it has a big effect on me," he said. "I think if (Islamic State) or a similar group find their way to Iran then we will suffer similar things."

The presumed glory of the war is such that some people invent military service records to gain others' admiration. In August, Iran arrested four men in Mashad "accused of trying to attract young people's attention by putting together fake stories about their presence on the frontline", a local judiciary official was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.</s>Updated at 11:32 a.m. ET

One day after President Trump signed executive order halting the admittance of all refugees to the United States, and temporarily freezing immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries, the effects of that freeze are already beginning to be seen at airports both in the U.S. and abroad.

Officials at a Cairo airport report that several migrants from Iraq and Yemen have been blocked from boarding their EgyptAir flight to New York City. The passengers had valid immigration visas, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, refugees were detained at Kennedy Airport in New York, according to the New York Times. Lawyers for two Iraqi refugees held at the airport filed a writ of habeas corpus Saturday, in an attempt to obtain their clients' release.

Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi had been granted U.S. visas after the federal government "deemed both Petitioners not to pose threats to the United States," the court filing reads.

The filing says both men are being held at the airport by Customs and Border Protection "solely pursuant to an executive order issued" Friday.

Brandon Friedman, a U.S. Army veteran and former Obama administration official tells NPR's Scott Simon that Darweesh worked with him as a translator during his service in Iraq. Darweesh was "approved for a special immigrant visa, given for his time and service to the U.S. government," Friedman says.

"Hameed was one of the first people to sign up to work with us. He helped interpret, he hooked us up with things that we needed and helped us generally get through the communities that we were operating in in Iraq," Friedman tells Simon. "And he put his life on the line. He risked his family's life to do that."

News of both sets of detainments follows on the heels of Trump's Friday order, which also halted all refugee admission to the U.S. Trump's freeze on immigration applies not only to people from Iraq and Yemen, but also Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.

"Deteriorating conditions in certain countries due to war, strife, disaster, and civil unrest increase the likelihood that terrorists will use any means possible to enter our country," the executive order reads.

As NPR's Greg Myre reports, "It doesn't include any countries from which radicalized Muslims have actually killed Americans in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001."

Greg notes that the countries of origin of radicalized Muslims who have killed Americans on U.S. soil, beginning on Sept. 11, are instead Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Russia, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.</s>President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting refugee admissions and immigration from certain Arab countries on Friday, but federal officials told NBC News that immigration officers may have been stopping and even banning valid visa holders from returning to the country weeks before the official directive.

Two federal officials familiar with the situation confirmed to NBC News that as many as 40 individuals with F1 student visas, many who left the country for winter break, were told their visas were revoked when they returned stateside to resume classes.

One of the individuals left the country on Jan. 3 and his visa was revoked on Jan. 4, one immigration official confirmed. An official stated that this is highly unusual since the individual had already been put through extensive security vetting prior to his departure.

It’s unclear whether the visa issues were directly related to the president’s recent executive order, and the circumstances around each case are different. Nonetheless, some are advising caution to international students — particularly those from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia, the seven countries enumerated by Trump as needing “extreme vetting.”

“My advice to anyone holding a visa from any of these countries is do not go home because you will not get back in,” the official said.

However, the students who ran into visa problems are not from the countries listed in Trump’s executive order. Instead, they hold passports from places like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Turkey, the official added.

Hazami Barmada, a social justice activist and Harvard graduate student who is currently working with four individuals whose F1 student visas were rejected after they returned to American soil, said the students are terrified and scared of coming forward.

“There is definitely a pattern,” she said. “Totally unrelated people are saying the same thing happened to them, even down to what they were told by immigration officers.”

They are graduate students, some of whom attend Ivy League universities and are well-credentialed, she added. An immigration official confirmed to NBC that at least two students attended Ivy League universities, one on a full scholarship.

Princeton University preemptively issued a notice cautioning its faculty and student body on Friday. “We have strongly advised students and scholars who might be affected and who have travel plans in the coming days to defer travel outside of the United States until there is some clarity and legal analysis of the situation or, if they must travel, to seek legal counsel before they do.”

Those with student visas who are in the country are now facing two very difficult scenarios: One where they cannot leave to go home to see loved ones and the other losing their education if they do.

M. A. Majid, an international college student on an F1 visa at the University of Illinois, said he was planning on going back to Jordan to attend his brother’s wedding in the summer. His plans have now changed.

“If I want to complete my education, what I spent so much time and money on achieving, I may have to do it at the cost of not seeing my family now,” he said. “I don’t have a choice anymore.”

Another high-ranking federal official verified to NBC News that there was an abnormal increase in complaints by Middle Eastern students who said they were blindsided with visa revocations after arriving in the United States in the week before Trump order.

It’s possible that immigration officials saw the tide turning and preemptively applied polices they were anticipating, the official said.

Individuals stopped at immigration were told they have the option of returning to their country voluntarily or face criminal penalties for violating U.S. law, said another federal official. No other explanation was given as it is not legally required, the official said.

“To slap an expedited removal without any question and answer is odd,” said Leslie Holman, an immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It seems improper.”

In addition to the visa revocation and expedited removal, several individuals were hit with a five-year ban, barring them from re-entering the country, including those who left voluntarily, the official confirmed. People leave voluntarily in order to avoid a ban, but it was put on them anyway, the official said.

“Essentially all valid visas are irrelevant now,” the official said. “And they have been before the order.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

The American Association of Immigration Lawyers also advised caution. In a statement released one day before Trump’s executive order, the group said to “consider advising clients who might be affected by the Executive Order to refrain from traveling outside of the United States if they are already here, or try to return to the United States as soon as possible if they are outside of the country.”

Since Trump’s order does not define what it means to be “from a country,” the order should be read to include “passport holders, citizens, nationals, dual nationals, etc.” “in an abundance of caution,” the statement added.</s>HONOLULU (Jan. 26, 2017) — The lives of millions of Syrians have been destroyed by a horrific war that has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to flee their homeland. I went there last week to see and hear directly from the Syrian people.

I met with displaced families from Eastern Aleppo, Raqqah, Zabadani, Latakia and the outskirts of Damascus. I heard from Syrian opposition leaders who commanded the 2011 protests, widows and children of men fighting both for and against the government. I listened to Muslim and Christian leaders, humanitarian workers, academics, college students, small business owners and many more.

Their message was clear: The regime change war the U.S. is fueling in Syria does not serve America’s interest, or the interest of the Syrian people. Time and again I was asked, “Why is the United States and its allies helping al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups take over Syria? Syria did not attack the United States. Al-Qaeda did.” I had no answer.

These are the frustrated voices that have not been heard. Instead, we’ve heard incomplete, one-sided reports that push a narrative supporting this regime change war at the expense of Syrian lives.

I met a 14-year-old Muslim girl from Zabadani who was kidnapped, beaten repeatedly and raped. She watched in horror as “rebel groups” murdered her father in her family’s living room, emptying their entire magazine of bullets into him because her father, a sheep herder, would not give them his money.

I met a boy who was kidnapped while walking down the street to buy bread for his family. He was tortured, waterboarded, electrocuted, placed on a cross and whipped because he refused to help so-called rebels  he told them he just wanted to go to school. This is how the “rebels” treat the Syrian people who do not cooperate with them, or whose religion is not acceptable to them.

Repeatedly I was told there is no difference between “moderate” rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS  they are all the same. Although opposed to the Assad government, the political opposition leaders adamantly rejected violence as a way to bring about reforms. They shared that it’s the Wahhabi jihadists, fueled by foreign governments, that pose the greatest threat to Syria and its history as a secular, pluralist, once-peaceful society. They continue to seek government reforms, but support the Syrian state over jihadist terrorist groups as they work to bring peace to Syria.

The consequences of this regime change war extend beyond the boundaries of Syria. As we spend trillions of dollars on regime change in the Middle East, Hawai’i, along with communities across the country, faces a severe lack of affordable housing, aging infrastructure, the need to invest in education, health care, and so much more. Our limited resources should go toward rebuilding our communities here at home, not fueling more counterproductive regime change wars abroad.

For years, the U.S. government has been directly and indirectly supporting allies and partners of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS with money, weapons, and intelligence in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government.

I return to D.C. this week with even greater resolve to end this illegal and counterproductive war. From Iraq to Libya and now in Syria, the U.S. has waged wars of regime change, each resulting in unimaginable suffering, devastating loss of life, and the strengthening of groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS.

We must allow the Syrian people to try to recover from this terrible war by ending our support for the terrorists destroying Syria and her people. My Stop Arming Terrorist Act would do just that.

To read more about my trip to Syria, click here.</s>Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven nations

Jan 27 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries, saying the moves would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

In the most sweeping use of his presidential powers since taking office a week ago, Trump paused the entry of travelers from Syria and the six other nations for at least 90 days, saying his administration needed time to develop more stringent screening processes for refugees, immigrants and visitors.

"I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don't want them here," Trump said earlier on Friday at the Pentagon.

"We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people," he said.

The order seeks to prioritize refugees fleeing religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping Christians in Syria. That led some legal experts to question whether the order was constitutional.

One group said it would announce a court challenge on Monday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the order targets Muslims because of their faith, contravening the U.S. Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

"President Trump has cloaked what is a discriminatory ban against nationals of Muslim countries under the banner of national security," said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The bans, though temporary, took effect immediately, causing havoc and confusion for would-be travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump has long pledged to take this kind of action, making it a prominent feature of his campaign for the Nov. 8 election, but people who work with Muslim immigrants and refugees were scrambling on Friday night to determine the scope of the order.

Even legal permanent residents - people with "green cards" allowing them to live and work in the United States - were being advised to consult immigration lawyers before traveling outside the country, or trying to return, said Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group in Washington.

On Friday evening, Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said he had fielded about 100 queries from people anxious about the order, which he said he believed could affect traveling green card holders, students, people coming to the United States for medical care and others.

During his campaign, Trump tapped into American fears about Islamic State militants and the flood of migrants into Europe from Syria's civil war, saying refugees could be a "Trojan horse" that allowed attackers to enter the United States.

In December 2015, he called for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, drawing fire for suggesting a religious test for immigrants that critics said would violate the U.S. Constitution.

His idea later evolved into a proposal for "extreme vetting."

Trump's order also suspends the Syrian refugee program until further notice, and will eventually give priority to minority religious groups fleeing persecution.

Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network that the exception would help Syrian Christians fleeing the civil war there.

Legal experts were divided on whether this order would be constitutional.

"If they are thinking about an exception for Christians, in almost any other legal context discriminating in favor of one religion and against another religion could violate the constitution," said Stephen Legomsky, a former chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Obama administration.

But Peter Spiro, a professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law, said Trump's action would likely be constitutional because the president and Congress are allowed considerable deference when it comes to asylum decisions.

"It's a completely plausible prioritization, to the extent this group is actually being persecuted," Spiro said.

Trump's order had been expected to include a directive about setting up "safe zones" for Syrian refugees inside the country, but no such language was included on Friday.

The order may also affect special refugee programs for Iraqis who worked for the U.S. government as translators after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It is already affecting refugees and their families, said Jen Smyers of the Church World Service, a Protestant faith-based group that works with migrants.

Smyers said she spoke to an Iraqi mother whose twin daughters remain in Iraq due to processing delays. "Those two 18-year-old daughters won't be able to join their mother in the U.S.," she said.

Democrats on Friday were quick to condemn Trump's order as un-American, saying it would tarnish the reputation of the United States as a land that welcomes immigrants.

"Today's executive order from President Trump is more about extreme xenophobia than extreme vetting," said Democratic Senator Edward Markey in a statement.

Some Republicans praised the move. Representative Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, said Islamic State has threatened to use the U.S. immigration system, making it important to do more screening.

"I am pleased that President Trump is using the tools granted to him by Congress and the power granted by the Constitution to help keep America safe and ensure we know who is entering the United States," Goodlatte said in a statement.

Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, who had panned Trump's original campaign pledge to ban Muslims from entering the United States, expressed some support on Friday.

"We are a compassionate nation, and I support the refugee resettlement program, but it's time to reevaluate and strengthen the visa vetting process," Ryan said.

"President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country," Ryan said. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung, Eric Beech, Mohammad Zargham, Dan Levine, Michelle Nichols, Julia Edwards Ainsley; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tom Hogue)</s>WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump signed an order Friday to strengthen the vetting of would-be immigrants or refugees and to keep “radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.”

At a ceremony at the Pentagon to swear in James Mattis as his secretary of defense, Trump signed a decree entitled: “Protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.”

“This is big stuff,” he declared, to polite applause from gathered senior military brass.

The White House did not immediately make the wording of the decree public, but a draft text had been leaked to US media earlier in the week and was widely reported on.

According to this unconfirmed order, Trump’s decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established.

In addition, it specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.

Meanwhile, no visas will be issued for 30 days to travellers, whether would-be visitors or migrants, from seven mainly-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Civil liberties groups and many counterterror experts had condemned the measures in advance, arguing that it is inhumane to lump the victims of conflict in with the extremists who threaten them.

But the suspension of the program stops short of a threat Trump made during last year’s race for the White House to halt all Muslim travel to the United States.

Trump’s supporters defend the measures as necessary to prevent supporters of Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group from infiltrating the US homeland disguised as refugees. CBB</s>Before he was sworn in as America’s 45th president, Donald Trump said he would take swift action on a number of issues, including health care and immigration, as soon as he entered the White House.

Trump set the tone by dancing with wife Melania to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” at one of the inaugural balls. He also made it clear he would not be toning down his Twitter rants, as he continued to rail against the media and post unsubstantiated voter fraud claims from both his personal @realDonaldTrump and the official @POTUS accounts.

Here’s what Trump and his administration actually did in the first week of his presidency:

Just hours after he was sworn in, Trump signed an executive order aimed at dismantling some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.”

The legislation was a cornerstone of Barack Obama’s presidency, designed to regulate the health insurance industry and provide more Americans with affordable health-care coverage.

Trump’s order directs federal agencies to stop issuing regulations that would expand Obamacare. It also directs them to grant exemptions and delays of provisions in the law that would impose costs on states or individuals.

As hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington, D.C., for the massive anti-Trump women’s march, the president’s attention was focused on media coverage of his inauguration.

Speaking in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents, Trump slammed reports that the crowd at his inauguration was significantly smaller than his predecessor’s. Trump claimed that more than a million people showed up to watch him get sworn in, despite photographic and video evidence to the contrary.

At his first formal press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer argued with reporters about attendance at the Friday ceremony, saying it was “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration – period.”

After Trump accused the media of lying about the size of the inauguration crowd, his adviser Kellyanne Conway explained in an interview that the White House was offering “alternative facts” on the matter.

Conway’s remark was widely mocked on social media, with plenty of sarcastic #alternativefacts tweets.

Trump signed a memorandum withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which took years to negotiate. Canada, Australia and Mexico are among the countries that had signed the trade agreement.

Trump also signed a memo to freeze most federal government hiring, except for the military. He reinstated a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information about abortions.

Trump signed several orders related to infrastructure and construction, including one to approve the Keystone XL pipeline between Alberta and Texas. Two days later, TransCanada Corp. re-submitted its application for the project to the U.S. Department of State.

Meanwhile, Trump continued to assert his unproven claim that “millions” of people voted illegally in the election, costing him the popular vote. Sean Spicer doubled down on those claims during a White House press briefing, saying Trump “believes what he believes.”

Neither Trump nor Spicer provided any evidence of voter fraud.

The Trump administration also instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants.

Fulfilling one of his most controversial campaign promises, Trump signed an order to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Throughout the election campaign, Trump has repeatedly said that Mexico will pay for the wall, although he has not explained how he expects that to happen.

In a nationally televised address Wednesday night, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his government will not be paying for the wall.

Trump’s order also calls for the hiring of 5,000 additional border patrol agents and 10,000 more immigration officers. He plans to cut federal grants to so-called “sanctuary cities” across America, which have promised not to co-operate with immigration authorities when it comes to rounding up residents for deportation.

The Associated Press reported that the same order is expected to suspend issuing U.S. visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, all predominantly Muslim countries.

Also on Wednesday, Trump declared that he believes torture “absolutely” works and that his administration will review how the U.S. conducts the war on terror and Islamic State militants.

Trump reiterated many of his claims about immigration, the border wall and voter fraud in his first one-on-one television interview as president, which aired on ABC News.

Using his preferred mode of communication with the American people, Trump tweeted Thursday that it would be “better to cancel” his upcoming meeting with the Mexican president “if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall.”

In response, President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled the Jan. 31 meeting. At a Republican Party retreat in Philadelphia, Trump characterized the cancellation as a mutual decision.

Spicer, his spokesperson, later told reporters that Trump will seek to impose a 20 per cent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the border wall. Such a move would need congressional approval.

The Associated Press also reported that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan was asked to leave his position and subsequently resigned.

With files from The Associated Press</s>President Trump ordered the State Department on Friday to suspend the U.S. refugee program, bar all legal immigrants from Syria and other countries that support terrorism, and develop "extreme vetting" measures for immigrants from those countries.

Trump announced the immigration overhaul during a speech at the Pentagon, where he said his ultimate goal was to keep "radical Islamic terrorists" out of the United States. Doing so, he said, is one way to honor the sacrifices made by Americans who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and those fighting terrorism around the world.

"We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas," he said. "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people."

The executive order, released late Friday, shuts down the entire U.S. refugee program for 120 days. During that time, the departments of State and Homeland Security will work with the FBI and the CIA to develop new procedures to screen people seeking refugee status.

Even after that government-wide review, however, the order bars all Syrians from entering the U.S., the only country singled out in the president's order.

"I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States," the order read.

The order bars for 60 days any kind of legal immigration from countries with close ties to terrorist organizations. That includes the three countries currently on the State Department's State Sponsors of Terrorism list — Iran, Sudan and Syria. Other countries could also be included on that list if they have been deemed to "support international terrorism."

The order drew widespread condemnation from Democrats, immigrant and civil rights groups around the world.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said: "Make no mistake - this is a Mulsim ban." Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said: "Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight."

David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, said the order was completely unnecessary since the U.S. already has the "strongest, most successful" resettlement program in the world.

"In truth, refugees are fleeing terror — they are not terrorists," Miliband said. "And at a time when there are more refugees than ever, America must remain true to its core values. America must remain a beacon of hope."

Many also pointed to a 2015 tweet sent by Vice President Pence where he blasted proposals to ban Muslims from the U.S.

"Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional," the then-governor of Indiana wrote.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said the U.S. was a “compassionate nation” and expressed his support for the refugee resettlement program.

“But it’s time to reevaluate and strengthen the visa vetting process,” he said. “President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country.”

Congressional Republicans said they would work with Trump to implement the new vetting procedures. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the U.S. refugee program as a "Trojan Horse" for would-be terrorists that had been ignored by President Obama.

"President Trump signed an order to help prevent jihadists from infiltrating the United States," McCaul said. "With the stroke of a pen, he is doing more to shut down terrorist pathways into this country than the last administration did in eight years."

President Obama had increased the refugee resettlement program during his time in office, increasing the cap from 60,000 to 70,000 to 85,000 in 2016. He reserved 10,000 of those spots for refugees from Syria.

While Trump has claimed that most Syrian refugees coming to the U.S are single, military-age men, the State Department said those numbers didn't add up. As of Nov. 2015, 77% of Syrian refugees who entered the U.S. were women and children. Only 23% were adult men, and only 2% were "single men unattached to families."
President Trump signs an executive order limiting refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The order also prioritizes the vetting of Christian refugees of the Syrian Civil War.