President Donald Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates Monday night, after Yates ordered Justice Department lawyers Monday not to defend his immigration order temporarily banning entry into the United States for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world. Also Monday, State Department diplomats circulated various drafts of a memo objecting to Trump’s order, which was issued Friday. A Justice Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said those who would normally defend the order under Yates’s authority can no longer do so. The White House, meanwhile, continued to defend Trump’s executive order. According to State Department statistics, about 90,000 people received nonimmigrant or immigrant visas in fiscal year 2015 from the seven countries affected by Trump’s executive order.

Source: National Post January 31, 2017 04:20 UTC