United States authorities on Saturday suspended Donald Trump’s ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries following a court ruling that blocked its enforcement, even as the President termed the court order as ‘ridiculous’ and vowed to get it ‘overturned’.
"We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas," a US State Department spokesman said.
The official added that the Trump administration is ‘working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams’ pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington State’s attorney general, which filed one of several legal challenges to the measure.
The order blocking the ban was issued on Friday by Seattle US District Judge James Robart and is valid across the US, jeopardising Trump’s stated plan to ‘prevent radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country’.
‘The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!’ Trump said in a tweet.
‘When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security - big trouble!’ he said in another tweet, as he lashed out at those who are opposing his ban on people coming from these seven Muslim-majority countries.
‘Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it’s death & destruction! (sic)’ Trump said.
Trump’s executive order, which went into effect a week ago, blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days, while barring entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, and refugees from other countries for 120 days.
The Department of Homeland Security, in a separate statement on Saturday wrote: ‘In accordance with the judge's ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the executive order.’
It added: ‘DHS personnel will resume inspection of travellers in accordance with standard policy and procedure,’ but said that US Department of Justice officials would launch an appeal ‘at the earliest possible time’ to reinstate the ban, which the Trump administration believes ‘is lawful and appropriate’.
‘The order is intended to protect the homeland and the American people, and the President has no higher duty and responsibility than to do,’ the DHS statement said.
The US President, who is spending his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, also lashed out at The New York Times, which has been critical of his policies.
‘After being forced to apologise for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost! (sic)’ Trump said.
The New York Times had endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich in the primaries and Hillary Clinton in the general elections.
US suspends travel ban, Trump vows to overturn ‘ridiculous’ court order
