Travel ban is about security, not religion: Jeff Sessions

Washington: The visa ban is about national security and not against any religion, US attorney general Jeff Sessions has said after a US appeals court upheld a decision blocking President Donald Trump’s revised executive order imposing a travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations.

“President Trump knows that the country he has been elected to lead is threatened daily by terrorists who believe in a radical ideology, and that there are active plots to infiltrate the US immigration system, just as occurred prior to 9/11,” Mr Sessions said in a statement on Moday.

He was reacting to the ruling by a three- judge bench of the US court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit against the revised travel ban.

The bench had unanimously ruled against the ban, saying the executive order signed by Mr Trump “exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress” to oversee immigration.

“The President is committed to protecting the American people and our national security, and we are proud to support his mission to put America first by defending his right to keep us safe,” Mr Sessions said, adding , “This is the reason why the department of justice will continue to seek further review by the Supreme Court."

Mr Sessions said that the President’s executive order is “well within his lawful authority to keep the nation safe.”

“We disagree with the Ninth Circuit’s decision to block that authority,” he said.

The recent attacks confirm that the threat to the nation is immediate and real, he said.