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AP/PA Images

White House says travel ban will prevent 'acts of bloodshed and violence'

The 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day ban on refugees has come into force.

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s ban on refugees and travelers from six mainly Muslim countries went into effect late last night, after a Supreme Court decision allowed it to go forward following a five-month battle with rights groups.

The Trump administration says the temporary ban is necessary to block terrorists from entering the country, but immigrant advocates charge that it illegally singles out Muslims.

The 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day ban on refugees, will allow exceptions for people with “close family relationships” in the United States.

But activists said the government has defined that too narrowly, excluding relationships with grandparents and grandchildren, aunts and uncles and others.

And many were concerned about a possibly chaotic rollout of enforcement of the ban, like that in January when it was first announced.

Immigration rights activists and lawyers were waiting to help arrivals at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and other airports to be sure those from the six countries with valid US visas were allowed in after the ban went into effect at midnight last night.

The Department of Homeland Security, which was heavily criticised for mishandling many arrivals when the ban was first attempted in January, promised a smooth rollout this time.

It stressed that anyone with a valid visa issued before the ban begins would still be admitted, and that all authorised refugees booked for travel before July 6 will also be allowed.

“We expect business as usual at the ports of entry starting at 8 pm tonight,” said a DHS official. “Our people are well prepared for this.”

The Trump administration insists the ban was necessary to protect the country from terror threats, and to give immigration authorities more time to tighten vetting of travelers and refugees.

“As recent events have shown, we are living in a very dangerous time, and the US government needs every available tool to prevent terrorists from entering the country and committing acts of bloodshed and violence,” a senior administration official told reporters.

Trump claims political victory

But implementing it, even with exceptions, was also claimed as a political victory by Trump, after federal appeals courts twice blocked his order saying it violated constitutional protections of religion and overshot his own presidential powers.

Immigrant rights groups and Democrats in Congress continued to label Trump’s order “illegal” and said the exemptions provided in a Supreme Court ruling on Monday remained unfair.

According to guidelines issued by the State Department, people with “close family relationships” would be exempt from the ban. It defined that to include parents, spouses, children, sons- and daughters-in-law, siblings and step- and half-siblings.

But “close family” does not include grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-laws and sisters-in-law, fiances and any other “extended” family members, the guidelines say.

People with formal relationships with a US entity — who have for instance been offered a job or been accepted to study or lecture at a university — will also qualify for visas during the ban. But a hotel reservation, even if already paid for, does not qualify.

© AFP 2017

Read: Trump slammed by Republicans and Democrats after tweet about female host ‘bleeding badly from a facelift’

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    Mute John Mullan
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:35 AM

    Gun control would prevent a lot more needless deaths in the US

    172
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    Mute Veronica
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:58 AM

    @John Mullan: Don’t expect them to do anything that actually makes sense any time soon.

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    Mute Donnacha Bhoicaire
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:57 AM

    Whatever about this ban – Muslim leaders as a whole needs to start publicly denouncing Muslim fundamentals and terrorism across the world. We also need to look closer to home on this with certain Mosques in the south Dublin area.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:25 AM

    @Donnacha Bhoicaire: Muslim leaders denounce it every single time. Lots of them. It’s not quite clickbait enough though

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:58 AM

    @Dave O Keeffe: and crap like this travel ban only adds fuel to the fire of extremism

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    Mute Jackson Bollovks
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:59 AM

    @Donnacha Bhoicaire: and what do you propose exactly? Stand outside the Mosque with pitchforks? Have a Father Ted protest with “Don’t with this sort of thing” placards? Muslim leaders here and everywhere spend all their time denouncing terrorism at their mosques, if you were visited one you would know.

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    Mute Cathal S Byrne
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    Jun 30th 2017, 10:16 AM

    @Jackson Bollovks: the numbers that protestsed over a cartoon dwarfed any other protest by the Muslim community beit their leaders or followers

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    Mute John B
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    Jun 30th 2017, 12:59 PM

    @Dave O Keeffe: I think they also need to come out and state that they recognize there is lots of crazy stuff in the Koran that they willfully recognize cannot and does not apply today. Then Islam can modernize itself. Problem is that would involve admitting the Koran is not a perfect book. Also we need to stop calling jihadists fundamentalists and extremists. It suggests they’re just crazy people twisting the Koran. They’re not. They are literalists. They take the Koran literally. Don’t get me wrong, the bible is the same if not worse. Thankfully centuries have passed since anyone calling themselves Christian actually reads the bible.

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Jun 30th 2017, 6:38 PM

    Where were the so called christian leaders denouncing their own terrorists?

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    Mute Reg
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:38 AM

    There’ll be hundreds, possibly thousands of americans killed by their fellow citizens during the term of this ban. Not sure this ban will achieve anything.

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    Mute George Vladisavljevic
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    Jun 30th 2017, 10:55 AM

    @Reg:

    Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually. In 2013, there were 73,505 nonfatal firearm injuries (23.2 injuries per 100,000 U.S. citizens), and 33,636 deaths due to “injury by firearms” (10.6 deaths per 100,000 U.S. citizens).

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    Mute George Vladisavljevic
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    Jun 30th 2017, 10:56 AM
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    Mute MikejG
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:40 AM

    At the end of the day USA is a soverign country they can do what they want. We might like it we might hate the ban but that’s not our choice.

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    Mute John Tuld
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:27 AM

    Not one citizen from these countries has committed a terrorist act in the U.S. – this is creating fear to control policy

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    Mute Dave Hogan
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:40 AM

    So Saudi terrorists like the 9 11 hijackers are exempt from the ban, Iranians one of the first country’s to offer sympathy and support after the attack are not welcome and all country’s that America has destroyed or helped to destroy have had their citizens barred. Crazy.

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    Mute Derek
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    Jun 30th 2017, 10:25 AM

    @Dave Hogan: yup and the 36 story skyscraper in NY owned by Iran is being confiscated as it broke sanctions with the rent of the building going back to Iran, now it’s finally sorted in court its going to pay redress to 9/11 victims. The truth is apparently what ever the US gov prefer to believe to justify their continuing actions and further their foreign policy.

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    Mute Nigel O'Neill
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:26 AM

    Would love to see Assad announce the same “Travel Ban’ into Syria for all US citizens..just to see what happens

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:50 AM

    Yes because of all the blood shed and violence since January from these foreigners…oh wait…

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    Mute Reg
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:03 AM

    @Deborah Behan: Thankfully there was no repeat of the Bowling Green masacre!

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Jun 30th 2017, 6:39 PM

    #PRAYFORBOWLINGGREEN

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    Mute Rui Firmino
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    Jun 30th 2017, 8:56 AM

    Fearmongering at its best

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    Mute David Knight
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    Jun 30th 2017, 9:35 AM

    That’s an easy claim to make, but harder to prove. I don’t believe there was a single attack on US soil that the existing travel ban would have stopped.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Jun 30th 2017, 9:03 AM

    “White House says travel ban will prevent ‘acts of bloodshed and violence”
    And create hundreds more jihadists

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    Mute John Weldon
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    Jun 30th 2017, 9:10 AM

    @P.J. Nolan: If hundreds of the “religion of peace” followers are liable to turn to jihad over a 90 day ban, then it shows that the US is right to ban them.

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Jun 30th 2017, 6:41 PM

    Its not jihadists the US has to worry about, it’s so called christians shooting up schools and work places.

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    Mute Tommy Browne
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    Jun 30th 2017, 12:37 PM

    Trump.
    Making the world a safer place day by day.
    Thank you Donald.

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    Mute gerry fallon
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:59 AM

    It’s probably the worst thing they could have done.This will only increase the violence. What a shower of headcases.

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    Mute Sorcha Hendry
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    Jun 30th 2017, 9:29 AM

    This makes sense to Trump that’s the main thing like pulling out of the climate change agreement was good for American businesses.

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    Mute Jesus O'Brien
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    Jun 30th 2017, 11:18 AM

    Sure all an extremist Muslim has to do is email or text somebody in the USA and tell them to spread terror. Stopping them from entering the country isn’t going to change anything. The war is online.

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