White House tells US diplomats to quit if they oppose Trump
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says US State Department employees who oppose President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration policy can quit if they are unhappy.
Spicer gave the warning on Monday after dozens of US diplomats across the world drafted a memo to express their objection to Trump’s recent executive order barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
“I think that they should either get with the program or they can go,” said Spicer.
“He’s going to implement things that are in the best interest of protecting this country prospectively, not reactively,” he said of Trump. “And if somebody has a problem with that agenda, then that does call into question whether or not they should continue in that post or not.”
Under the new measure, citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia are banned from entering the US for at least 90 days while Syrian refugees are blocked indefinitely. All refugee admissions will also be halted for 120 days.
ABC News reported Monday that State Department officials were preparing a “dissent” memo over the executive order, which was signed on Friday.
The draft, which has been circulating among diplomats and associates abroad over the past few days, denounces the ban as an “un-American” move and warns that it would actually harm efforts to protect the US from terrorists.
“This ban ... will not achieve its stated aim to protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States,” the draft reads.
"Given the near absence of terror attacks committed in recent years" by visa holders from these seven nations, “this ban will have little practical effect in improving public safety,” it adds.
Trump has come under immense pressure from politicians and rights groups to rescind the ban. Protests have also been held inside and outside the US.
On Monday, Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and acting head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Daniel Ragsdale, for refusing to defend his Muslim ban.
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