Donald Trump ‘Muslim ban’: Did Obama do the same thing?

DONALD Trump claims Barack Obama did the same thing in banning Muslim immigration as he defends his administration's policy. But is it true?

US President Donald Trump claims the countries listed in his executive order had previously been identified as “sources of terror” by the Obama administration. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

DONALD Trump claims Barack Obama did the same thing in suspending immigration from Muslim majority countries as he moved to defend his administration's policy.

On Friday, Mr Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending the entry of people from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen into the US for at least 90 days.

It also suspended the US refugee program for 120 days and ordered his administration to develop “extreme vetting” measures for migrants from the seven countries.

While the move has sparked a massive backlash in the US and around the globe, Mr Trump maintained it wasn’t a Muslim ban and said America was a proud nation of immigrants which would continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression.

The new president said the countries affected in his executive order had previously been identified as “sources of terror” by the Obama administration.

He also pointed out that Mr Obama levelled a “similar” ban against refugees from Iraq in 2011.

So is he correct?

David Smith, of the University of Sydney’S United States Studies Centre, said it was true that Mr Obama banned visas to Iraqis, but it was only for six months back in 2011.

NEW: President Donald J. Trump Statement Regarding Recent Executive Order Concerning Extreme Vetting pic.twitter.com/psbegV3vA9

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 29, 2017

But he said the statement about Mr Obama’s policy was not quite correct.

“The statement about Obama was misleading because Trump’s ban is much wider in scope — all seven countries are involved — but also because Trump’s ban included permanent residents of the United States, which is totally unprecedented,” he said.

“The Department of Homeland Security has now retracted that part.”

Dr Smith said it was also different because Islam wasn’t the basis for Mr Obama’s policy.

He also said the measure applied to green cards was also extreme given the amount of hoops holders had to go through to get their status approved in the first place.

Dr Smith said it was draconian and implied Americans needed to be wary of the enemy within and promoted Islamophobia.

The Washington Post backs Mr Smith’s earlier claims: “The State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011 ... The enhanced screening procedures ... caused a logjam in regular visa admissions from Iraq. (Mr) Obama responded to an actual threat — the discovery that two Iraqi refugees had been implicated in bomb-making in Iraq that had targeted US troops.

“Obama’s policy did not prevent all citizens of that country, including green-card holders, from traveling to the United States.”

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Mr Trump’s executive order has sparked a huge backlash. Picture: Matt Rourke/AP