Germany slams U.S. travel ban

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday slammed the U.S. decision to ban entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries as anti-Muslim bias.

Anti-terrorism efforts should not justify general suspicion against a specific group of people, Merkel told a press conference prior to her talks with visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"The essential and also resolute fight against terrorism in no way justifies general suspicion against people of a specific faith, in this case people of the Muslim faith or people of a certain background," she said.

"This approach, in my view, contradicts the basic tenets of international aid to refugees and international cooperation," the chancellor said.

Merkel said the German government would do its best to find out how those with dual citizenship of Germany and the seven listed countries would be affected legally because of the travel ban.

"We're clearly having close consultations with our European partners about this entire issue," she added.

Under an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, refugees from all over the world will be suspended from entering the United States for 120 days while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days.

Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The total population from these countries exceeds 130 million.

The ban sparked chaos across U.S. international airports and continuous protests nationwide in the past days. Endit