Critics have meltdown and accuse Trump of imposing renewed 'Muslim ban' through 'disgusting' travel order

Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday restricting travel to the U.S. from a total of 19 countries. Twelve countries, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, were deemed "very high risk" due to terrorist activity, weak or hostile governments, and high visa overstay rates. While seven other countries, such as Venezuela, Cuba and Laos, faced partial restrictions under the proclamation. 

"The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas," Trump said in video posted Wednesday to social media. "We don't want them." 

"In the 21st century, we've seen one terror attack after another carried out by foreign visa overstayers from dangerous places all over the world," he added. "Thanks to Biden's open-door policies, today there are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country."

Trump's travel restriction announcement sparked widespread backlash among Democratic lawmakers and critics on social media, who slammed Trump for allegedly promoting Islamophobia. 

The U.S.' largest Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American Islamic Relations, also released a statement denouncing the travel bans. 

"Automatically banning students, workers, tourists, and other citizens of these targeted nations from coming to the United States will not make our nation safer," Nihad Awad, the executive director of CAIR, said in a Wednesday statement. "Neither will imposing vague ideological screening tests that the government can easily abuse to ban immigrants based on their religious identity and political activism."

The CEO of Oxfam America, which is an international group of nongovernmental organizations that work to end hunger and poverty, also issued a blistering response to Trump's announcement. 

"By once again targeting individuals from Muslim-majority countries, countries with predominantly Black and brown populations, and countries in the midst of conflict and political instability, this executive order deepens inequality and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, racist tropes, and religious intolerance," Oxfam America CEO Abby Maxman said in a statement. "This policy is not about national security - it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States."

The White House defended that the new proclamation is "commonsense" and targeted at countries that "lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information,' Fox Digital reported Wednesday. 

"President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm," White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. 

Trump came under fire from liberals and activist groups during his first administration when he signed an executive order banning travel and implementing "extreme vetting" for countries such as Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya in January 2017. Critics of the executive order derided it as Trump's "Muslim ban." 

 "To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe," he said in a statement in 2017. 

"There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order." Trump added at the time. 

Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr, Brooke Singman and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.