The head of a refugee assistance group said Sunday that Donald Trump’s executive order banning refugees from entering the US was a “propaganda gift” to ISIS and al Qaeda.
David Milliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee — a humanitarian aid and refugee assistance group — and a former British foreign minister, told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that “hasty process always produces harmful policy.”
“Sixty thousand refugees, we think, around the world have passed the extensive security vetting system that exists for anyone wanting to enter the US as a refugee,” he said
Now, he said these people “are left in limbo.”
“They will be knocking on the doors of embassies saying, ‘Where do I stand?'”
Miliband insisted that the extensive refugee vetting process in the US had been working effectively prior to Trump’s executive order, typically taking “12 to 18 months” and consisting of “intensive interviews and study” as well as biometric testing.
“It’s very tough to get here as a refugee. And that’s why the security record of refugees in this country, one reason, is so strong and so safe. They become productive and patriotic — not just residents, but citizens,” he explained.
The only people who would benefit from Trump’s executive order, Milliband stressed, were the very people that the US is trying to defeat.
“The only people celebrating today are extremists around the world who want to tell Muslims around the world that America is shutting their doors to them. The only people celebrating this propaganda gift are ISIS and al Qaeda,” he said.
“This plays into their core narrative of a clash of civilization,” he noted.
