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The so called “Muslim ban” came into affect after the new US president signed an executive order to prevent people from mainly Islamic countries from entering America - just days into his presidency. Mr Trump has closed US borders to all refugees for the next four months and has put a temporary ban in place for people travelling from half a dozen countries - even if they’ve been issued visas in the past. He first proposed the ban while he was a contender to become the Republican party’s nominee for US president.

Getty President Donald Trump has put his

He called for a “total and complete shutdown” of the country’s borders to Muslims in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack. At the time he faced international condemnation. But as he signed the order at the Pentagon on Friday he made good on his promise. He said: “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.” US border control must now turn travellers away from Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Yemen and Somalia over the next 90 days.

Getty Muslim travellers have reportedly been stopped from boarding flights

The only exceptions will be diplomats and dual citizens. Mohammed Al Rawi took to Facebook to say her father, a Muslim, had already been subject to the ban. She said: “My 71 year old dad is in Qatar boarding LAX flight to come visit us and and he's being sent back to Iraq. Some US official told him that Trump canceled all visas.” Syrian refugees have been banned from the country indefinitely. They will face particularly stringent restrictions and were singled out as “detrimental to the interests of the United states.” The US president has also instigated a 120-day suspension on the US refugee resettlement programme.

The programme had allowed 85,000 people from war-torn countries to start a new life in the United States last year. Refugees will now be admitted on a case-by-case basis. Those claiming religious persecution will be processed and admitted if their religion is a minority religion in their country. Refugees who were in the air flying to the United States on Friday when the executive order was signed were detained and stopped at airports, The New York Times reported. At least two refugees held at New York's John F. Kennedy airport launched a legal fight against the ban with the help of lawyers. Lawyers battled to have their clients released and filed a motion to help others in similar situations.

While Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, appeared to support Mr Trump's ban saying: “It is time to re-evaluate and strengthen the visa-vetting process.” The president's move came under fierce criticism from civil rights campaigners, Democrat senators and business leaders. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader said: “Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight as a grand tradition of America, welcoming immigrants, that has existed since America was founded has been stomped upon." The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it planned to file a federal lawsuit against the ban next week.

Getty Mr Trump has closed US borders to all refugees for the next four months

Lena Masri, the group’s director of National Litigation said: ”There is no evidence that refugees - the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation - are a threat to national security.” Google urged its staff that was affected by the ban to come back to the US immediately. And Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook wrote in a post that he was concerned about the impact of the executive orders and planned to work with a charity called Fwd.US to create protections for child immigrants brought to the US by their parents.

Facebook Mohammed Al Rawi took to Facebook to say her father had been subject to the ban