One of the big talking points that helped generate excitement for Donald Trump among conservatives was his hard-line stance when it came to Islamic terrorism. After Trump signed an executive order restricting entry into the United States by refugees from Muslim countries, the new president elaborated further.
Trump on refugees
It took less than a week in the White House, but Donald Trump has already signed a handful of executive orders that matched what he vowed to do while he was on the campaign trail. In addition to starting the construction of the border wall, restarting the Keystone XL pipeline, and putting in motion the repeal of Obamacare, the former host of "The Apprentice" also took the United States off the list of countries who were willing to accept Syrian refugees, and others from Muslim countries in the Middle East.
During an interview on the January 27 edition of "The Brody File" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump gave his thoughts on the issue at hand.
Joining host David Brody was President Donald Trump, and the aforementioned executive order on refugees was brought up. "As it relates to persecuted Christians, do you see them as kind of a priority here?" Brody asked the new president. Without hesitation, Trump confirmed "yes." Just looking for clarification, Brody once again asked, "you do?" Trump then responded with a more detailed answer.
Trump's orders bar people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia entering US for 90 days https://t.co/OwJLvKbRPG
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 28, 2017
"They've been horribly treated," Donald Trump said, before explaining, "Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough to get into the United States." "If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible," Trump continued, calling the process "so unfair." Trump went on to admit that "everybody was persecuted," but reiterated that "they (Islamic State) were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians." Once again, the new commander in chief stated, "We are going to help them."
.@POTUS repeated previously debunked statements about Christian refugees while pledging to give them "priority." https://t.co/rAb9x861Ew pic.twitter.com/Bh50zeAY3D
— American Atheists (@AmericanAtheist) January 27, 2017
Refugee reaction
In response to the news that Syrian refugees would no longer be legally welcome in the United States, critics of Donald Trump quickly spoke out.
Actor George Takei took to his Twitter account and cited a map that explained that the countries that were not on the ban list had financial ties to Trump. Women's education activist Malala Yousafzai wrote a statement where she described herself as "heartbroken," while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a personal plea for the new president to possibly reconsider his actions.
