President Donald Trump's controversial executive order that bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. "violates our principles”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday.

"This is not the way to best protect the U.S, or any other country in relation to the serious concerns that exists about possibilities of terrorist infiltration," Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. "I think that these measures should be removed sooner rather than later."

The secretary general said the ban that is in effect for 90 days but bars Syrians indefinitely, is "not effective if the objective is to really avoid terrorists to enter the United States".

The Trump administration has consistently defended the order that was signed Friday amid popular outrage and legal objections, as necessary to safeguard America's security.

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

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