Merkel: Struggle against terrorism cannot justify Trump's blanket entry ban

By  Trend

German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the order of US President Donald Trump aimed at decreasing the flow of migrants into the United States, saying that security measures cannot justify the ban for people of certain origin, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Sunday, Sputnik reported.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order blocking all refugees from coming to the United States for 120 days and suspended the entry for citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

"[Merkel] is convinced that even the necessary resolute struggle against terrorism does not justify placing people of a certain origin or belief under suspicion," Seibert said, as quoted by the Spiegel magazine.

On Saturday, Merkel and Trump held a telephone conversation, but the issue of the entry ban was not covered, according to the newspaper.