President Donald Trump has signed an executive order suspending the United States refugee programme for 120 days, specifically barring Syrian refugees until further notice.
Trump signed the order at the Pentagon, saying the moves would help protect Americans from "terrorist" attacks.
"I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don't want them here," Trump said earlier on Friday.
"We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people," he stated.
Civil rights groups condemned the measures as discriminatory.
"Extreme vetting" is an euphemism for discrimination against Muslims. Period.
— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 27, 2017
The order suspends the Syrian refugee programme until further notice, and will eventually give priority to minority religious groups fleeing persecution. Trump said in an interview with a Christian news outlet the exception would help Syrian Christians fleeing the civil war there.
His order had been expected to include a directive about setting up "safe zones" for Syrian refugees inside the country, but no such language was included.
The measure limits entry for at least 90 days from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries, but did not list the countries by name.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association said it would ban entry from nationals of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
The order also said all immigration programmes should include questions to "evaluate the applicant's likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society".
Aljazeera