Trump's travel ban.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL

Why President Trump's executive order halting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations has generated so much controversy and debate

Mustafa is a 28-year-old from Iraq who once did construction on American military bases in his home country. He nearly lost his life several years ago when radical militias in his neighborhood found out and accused him of treason.

"I was beaten and shot and knifed," says Mustafa, who didn't want his full name published. *

Mustafa fled to neighboring Lebanon and applied for asylum in the United States. Like all refugees coming to the U.S., he submitted to years of interviews and investigations into his background. In January, he was close to getting a green light to fly to California--and begin his new life in America.

But his hopes were dashed, at least for the moment, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 27 temporarily barring all refugee admissions and banning immigration of any kind for 90 days from seven majority-Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

"If I do get rejected," Mustafa says, struggling not to weep, "I'd regret ever having shaken hands with an American."

Mustafa is one of countless people across the globe who got swept up in the tumult following Trump's executive order. In the days after it was signed, refugees, immigrants, and travelers, including students and others with valid visas to enter and live in the U.S., were detained at American airports or prevented from leaving their home countries, their lives in at least temporary limbo. In the U.S., people flocked to international airports around the country to protest the order and show their support for those affected by it.

A Flood of Lawsuits

Civil liberties groups, religious groups, some state attorneys general, and individuals filed a flood of lawsuits against the executive order, which they say targets Muslims. They argued that the order violates, among other things, the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion, as well as due process rights.

Politicians, pundits, and ordinary Americans squared off in intense debates about American values and whether the bans will make the nation safer or make it more of a target for Islamic extremists.

Trump says the government needs time to toughen vetting procedures for all refugees and for anyone coming from certain countries to protect Americans from terrorist groups such as ISIS (also known as the Islamic State). ISIS is...