President Donald Trump has denied his administration’s plan to restrict entry of people form mostly Middle Eastern countries having terrorism problem would be a Muslim man.
“No it’s not the Muslim ban. But it’s countries that have tremendous terror …. And it’s countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems,” he told ABC .News
“Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in who, in many cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction,” Trump argued, according to a transcript of the interview released by the channel.
According to reports, the president is expected to sign an executive order to temporarily restrict immigration from seven countries including Iraq and Syria – hotbeds of ISIS militancy – while the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security would work on tightening vetting processes for new entrants.
Trump, who vowed in his inaugural address to eradicate “radical Islamic terrorism” from the face of the planet, particularly said he does not want any ISIS militants to come to the United States.
“You’re looking at people that come in, in many cases, in some cases with evil intentions. I don’t want that. They’re ISIS. They’re coming under false pretense. I don’t want that.”
The president also argued that Europe made a mistake by allowing in millions of people from the Middle Eastern hot spots.
“I’m gonna be the president of a safe country. We have enough problems. Now I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people. I think that Europe has made a tremendous mistake by allowing these millions of people to go into Germany and various other countries. And all you have to do is take a look. It’s — it’s a disaster what’s happening over there.”
“I don’t want that to happen here. Now with that being said, President Obama and Hillary Clinton have, and Kerry have allowed tens of thousands of people into our country. The FBI is now investigating more people than ever before having to do with terror. They — and it’s from the group of people that came in. So look, look, our country has a lot of problems.”
Questioned why some of the countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia won’t be on the list of countries whose citizens will have restricted immigration access, the president replied:
“You’re going to see — you’re going to see. We’re going to have extreme vetting in all cases. And I mean extreme. And we’re not letting people in if we think there’s even a little chance of some problem.”
“We are excluding certain countries. But for other countries we’re gonna have extreme vetting. It’s going to be very hard to come in. Right now it’s very easy to come in. It’s gonna be very, very hard. I don’t want terror in this country. You look at what happened in San Bernardino. You look at what happened all over. You look at what happened in the World Trade Center. Okay, I mean, take that as an example.”
Asked if limiting access for people from overwhelmingly Muslim majority countries, would anger the Muslim world, Trump responded:
“The world is a mess. The world is as angry as it gets. What? You think this is gonna cause a little more anger? The world is an angry place.
All of this has happened. We went into Iraq. We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq. We shouldn’t have gotten out the way we got out.
“The world is a total mess. Take a look at what’s happening with Aleppo. Take a look what’s happening in Mosul. Take a look what’s going on in the Middle East. And people are fleeing and they’re going into Europe and all over the place. The world is a mess.”
