EDITORIAL: Diplomats Decry Muslim Ban - Nytimes

More than 100 State Department employees have indicated they will sign a memorandum in coming days registering their opposition to President Trump’s travel ban through the department’s “dissent cable” system, an official mechanism created to voice dissent to policies.

A draft of the memo, written by a midlevel officer in the State Department’s consular bureau, predicted that the ban on citizens of seven nations, and the indefinite suspension of the resettlement of Syrian refugees, would be “counterproductive” to its stated goal of enhancing national security.

“This ban stands in opposition to the core American and constitutional values that we, as federal employees, took an oath to uphold,” the memo said, warning that the ban has the potential to increase anti-American sentiment among Muslims worldwide. The acting attorney general, Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, backed that view in a letter Monday to Justice Department lawyers, instructing them not to defend the order in court. Hours later, Mr. Trump fired Ms. Yates.

“We have a special obligation,” the draft memo said, “to maintain an immigration system that is as free as possible from discrimination, that does not have an implied or actual religious tests, and that views individuals as individuals, not as part of stereotyped groups.” - Read More

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