Shun political correctness, implement travel ban, says Trump

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump urged his Justice Department to shun political correctness and call a proposed restriction on travellers from certain Muslim countries what it’s, a travel ban.

“People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” he tweeted at 6:25am.

But Lisa Monaco, a former homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser to President Obama, warned that this approach could have negative consequences.

“I don’t think from a national security encounter terrorism perspective, it gets at the problem,” she said on CNN’s New Day. “And indeed, it could make it worse.”

But such criticism does not have much impact on President Trump. He followed up his initial statement with more tweets, making it clear that he not only wants his order to be seen as a travel ban but also wants it implemented in its true spirit.

“The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to Supreme Court,” he tweeted.

“The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court – & seek much tougher version,” he added.

In the fourth tweet, he pointed out that despite court orders forbidding the government to implement the travel ban, his administration was taking the measures necessary steps to prevent unwanted people from entering the United States.

“In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the US in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political,” he tweeted.

Ms Monaco, however, reminded him that “there has never been an attack in the United States since 9/11 by anybody from the countries that were listed in this ban,” she said. “So the bottom line is, it doesn’t get at the problem that we’re confronting here, which is, in many respects, inspired violence or home-grown violence.”

On January 27, President Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning Muslims from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States.

The restriction did not apply to non-Muslim citizens of these countries.

On Feb. 3, a US federal court issued a nationwide temporary restraining order, preventing the government from implementing the ban.

The lower court’s order was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Feb 9. But last week, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to undo earlier court orders and allow the ban.

President Trump reignited the debate over his travel ban after this weekend’s terrorist attack in London that killed 7 people. “We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety,” he tweeted. “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people.”