District of Columbia: US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a sweeping new executive order calling for new vetting of refugees entering the United States of America.


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As per the order, no visas will be issued for 90 days to migrants or visitors from seven mainly-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.


People from countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia will face "extreme vetting", the US President said.


In addition, it specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the President himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.


Trump`s decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established.


Making good on one of his most controversial campaign promises, and to the horror of human rights groups, Trump said he was making America safe from "radical Islamic terrorists."


"This is big stuff," he declared at the Pentagon, after signing an order entitled: "Protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States."


During the suspensions of the refugee and visa programs, new rules will be devised for what Trump as called the "extreme vetting" of applicants` backgrounds.


Some exceptions will be made for members of "religious minorities," which -- in the countries targeted by the decree -- would imply favorable treatment for Christians.


Civil liberties groups and many counterterror experts condemned the measures, declaring it inhumane to lump the victims of conflict in with the extremists who threaten them.


Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist and Nobel peace laureate who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012, said she was "heartbroken."


She urged Trump not to abandon the world`s "most defenseless children and families."


But the measure will be popular with Trump`s nationalist base, and stops short of a threat made during last year`s campaign to halt all Muslim travel to the United States.


(With Agency inputs)