Thousands of academics, including 13 Nobel Laureates, signed a petition protesting President Donald Trump’s executive order that would require “extreme vetting” of refugees from majority Muslim countries.
The president signed the executive order on Friday, which claims that “the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry” until it is decided the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has made changes “consistent with the national interest.”
The executive order also suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days and imposes a 30-day ban on entry from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Libya and Sudan.
“The EO unfairly targets a large group of immigrants and non-immigrants on the basis of their countries of origin, all of which are nations with a majority Muslim population,” the petition reads.
“This is a major step towards implementing the stringent racial and religious profiling promised on the campaign trail.”
The petition also reads that the executive order would impose “an undue burden on our community” and that those whose status in the U.S. might be reconsidered are “our students, friends, colleagues and members of our community.”
“This measure is fatally disruptive to the lives of these immigrants, their families, and the communities of which they form an integral part. It is inhumane, ineffective, and un-American,” the petition said.
In addition, one of the concerns in the petition was that the conditions necessary to ending the suspension and ban make it easy to turn the executive order into a permanent ban. Trump campaigned on a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Among the signees are four John Bates Clark Medal recipients and thirteen Nobel Laureates who have received the award for physics, economics and physiology or medicine.
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