Trump bans millions of refugees from the US on Holocaust Memorial Day

27 January was International Holocaust Remembrance Day – the day of memorial for the 6 million Jewish people, 200,000 Romani people, 250,000 disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men killed by the Nazis.

27 January 2017 was also the day that President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning refugees from Syria from the US indefinitely, and from six other major Muslim countries for 120 days.

The irony of these two things happening on the same day is not lost on people.

In particular, many people pointed out that the US had refused to take thousands of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, who were later murdered in concentration camps.

As explained in this MSNBC report, in February 1939, the US Congress voted down a bill to accept 20,000 German Jewish children. And then a year later, the US turned back a ship carrying 900 people fleeing the Nazis.

254 of those sent back would go on to die in concentration camps, and a Twitter account has been listing those victims one by one.

Jewish groups have strongly criticised Trump's actions.

Prior to signing off on the refugee ban, Trump released a statement honouring Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yet he failed to explicitly reference "Jews".

The Anti-Defamation League called the omission "troubling".

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