Angelina Jolie said that discriminating against refugees for their religion or country of origin “invites the very instability we seek to protect ourselves against.”
She said in a New York Times editorial Thursday that the US decision to suspend refugee resettlements and visits from several Muslim-majority countries is not the American way. Trump has not responded to Jolie’s open letter.
“Every time we depart from our values we worsen the very problem we are trying to contain,” Jolie wrote. “We must never allow our values to become the collateral damage of a search for greater security. Shutting our door to refugees or discriminating among them is not our way, and does not make us safer.”
A special envoy for the UN High Commissioner of Refugees since 2012, Jolie said refugees recommended for resettlement are often survivors of terrorism and torture or may be in need of advanced medical care. 
Refugees seeking entry to the US already undergo extensive screening by various federal agencies, she said.
“The global refugee crisis and the threat from terrorism make it entirely justifiable that we consider how best to secure our borders,” she wrote. “Every government must balance the needs of its citizens with its international responsibilities. But our response must be measured and should be based on facts, not fear.”
“Americans have shed blood to defend the idea that human rights transcend culture, geography, ethnicity and religion,” Jolie wrote. “The decision to suspend the resettlement of refuges to the United States and deny entry to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries has been met with shock by our friends around the world precisely because of this record.”

Source: Arab News