Internal administration data undercuts Trump travel ban: report

The Trump administration has at least two collections of unpublished internal data that undermine the arguments for President Trump’s travel ban, according to a new story from The Washington Post.

The reports suggest that Trump’s travel ban, which temporarily halts travel into the U.S. for citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries and stops refugee resettlement, would likely not help curb terrorism in the U.S.

The Post said one internal report is titled “Most Foreign-Born US-Based Violent Extremists Radicalized After Entering Homeland,” according to officials familiar with the document.

{mosads}The document analyzed about 90 cases of suspected or confirmed foreign-born terrorists in the U.S., concluding that most embraced their extremist ideologies after reaching America, rather than in their previous countries.

The second analysis, which draws on classified FBI data, has been cited by Trump administration officials as justification for the president’s travel order.

But the Post noted that most of the suspects cited in the document come from countries besides the six impacted by Trump’s measure.

One source who has read both reports added that they do not present a convincing enough case to accept the administration’s concerns about refugee terrorism risks.

The White House accused the Post’s anonymous sources of committing “potentially criminal leaks” by revealing the contents of the reports.

“[Trump’s order] is not in any way diminished by these selective and potentially criminal leaks being carried out by disgruntled government officials,” White House spokesman Michael Short said Thursday. “The president is 100 percent committed to keeping this country safe from terrorism and that’s exactly what this order will achieve.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman added the order is a prudent reaction to six nations “where state-sponsored terror and unstable governments make thorough investigation difficult.”

A federal judge in Hawaii placed a nationwide block on Trump’s revised travel order just before its implementation early Thursday. A second federal judge in Maryland followed suit later that morning, further complicating the legal challenges facing the controversial directive.

The latest version of Trump’s order would pause general refugee admissions into the U.S. for 120 days, much like the original edition blocked by a federal court earlier this year. But the revised ban removes the indefinite halt on admitting Syrian refugees.

The revised order dropped Iraq from the list of countries impacted by a 90-day ban on travelers, however, leaving Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen in the current outline.

Critics have called Trump’s order unconstitutional and biased against Muslims, while the president claims that it will help protect the U.S. from radical Islamic terrorism.