US President Donald Trump fought back on Sunday amid growing international criticism, outrage from civil rights activists and legal challenges over his abrupt order for a halt on arrivals of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries. 
 
In his most sweeping action since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump, a Republican, put a 120-day hold on Friday on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
 
“Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world — a horrible mess!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!” added Trump, who has presented the policy as a way to protect Americans from the threat of militants.
 
Civil rights and faith groups, activists and Democratic politicians have promised to fight the order, which caused chaos and confusion for affected travelers and sparked protests at several US airports throughout Saturday.
 
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, voiced muted criticism. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, he said it was a good idea to tighten the vetting of immigrants, but “it’s important to remember that some of our best sources in the war against radical Islamic terrorism, are Muslims, both in this country and overseas ... We need to be careful as we do this.”
 
A Republican colleague in the Senate, John McCain, was more critical, saying the order had been a confused process and could give Daesh propaganda material.
 
Condemnation of the order poured in from abroad, including from traditional allies of the US.
In Germany — which has taken in large numbers of people fleeing the Syrian civil war — Chancellor Angela Merkel said the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for the measures and “does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion,” her spokesman said on Sunday.
 
A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, granted a temporary reprieve late on Saturday evening. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing two Iraqis caught by the order as they flew into the country, successfully argued for a temporary stay that allowed travelers to remain in the US.
 
The court action did not reverse Trump’s order, but prevented those denied entry into the country from being deported. Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, predicted in an interview with CNN on Sunday that the case could ultimately land in the US Supreme Court.
 
Separately, a group of state attorneys general were discussing whether to file their own court challenge against Trump’s order, officials in three states told Reuters. Other groups eyed a constitutional challenge claiming religious discrimination.

Source: Arab News