FOR 130 years the Statue of Liberty has welcomed refugees to the United States. The neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island, in New York, is a global icon of freedom and understanding.

A poem by Emma Lazarus engraved on the statue’s base says: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

This morning those words are as tarnished as the Statue of Liberty itself.

President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travellers and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering the United States is an insult to those words.

America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world.

But it is not enough to be a great power. The US has to act like one – and that means facing up to its responsibilities to the international community. Instead, the global community is united in condemnation of the United States’ actions.

Iraq is still a country in turmoil years after the American invasion. Now the US has effectively told Iraqis who tried to help rebuild their country: “Sorry, but you’re on your own.” Some of them did so at great personal risk to themselves and their families. Now they have been cast adrift. Where is the greatness in that?

A ban won’t make Americans safer. Terrorism isn’t a problem the US can solve alone. It needs allies, especially in the Middle East. Pulling up the drawbridge just isn’t possible.

Barack Obama understood this. That’s why he reached out to Iran. Now it looks as though all that good work was for nothing.

British diplomats congratulating themselves on Theresa May’s visit to the White House last week must be aghast. If the Prime Minister had any doubts about the volatility of the President this will have swept them away.