The U.S. State Department has received multiple cables from its embassies abroad reporting on the foreign anger and dismay at the U.S. executive order curtailing travel to the U.S. by seven predominately Muslim countries, a U.S. official said on Monday.
Asked about the cables, a U.S. State Department official said it remains in contact with its embassies abroad but added: “we will not comment on internal communications.”Separately, Reuters obtained a copy of a “dissent channel” memo drafted by U.S. State Department officials unhappy about the executive order, signed by President Donald Trump.READ MORE: Trump’s travel ban sparks protests, confusion for green card holders at US airportsHis order to restrict people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States sparked confusion and anger on Saturday after immigrants and refugees were kept off flights and left stranded in airports.In his most sweeping decision since taking office a little more than a week ago, Trump, a Republican, put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other countries.WATCH: Council on American Islamic Relations co-counsel Gadeir Abbas calls the Trump administration’s actions to ban immigrants the “grandest monument to anti-Muslim sentiment that America has ever known.”
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Civil rights and faith groups, activists and Democratic politicians were furious and vowed to fight the order.READ MORE: Donald Trump defends ‘extreme vetting’ as European leaders denounce US travel banOver the weekend, a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., granted a temporary reprieve. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully argued for a temporary stay that allowed detained travelers to stay in the United States.The court action does not reverse Trump’s order, which was criticized by some of America’s closest allies.WATCH: Hundreds gather at U.S. Consulate in Toronto to protest Trump travel ban
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Trump, a businessman who successfully tapped into American fears about terror attacks during his campaign, had promised what he called “extreme vetting” of immigrants and refugees from areas the White House said the U.S. Congress deemed to be high risk.He told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office on Saturday that his order was “not a Muslim ban” and said the measures were long overdue.
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