Jordan king to visit US, 3 days after Trump’s refugee ban

Protesters are surrounded by police officers and travelers as they pass through an exit of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, after earlier in the day two Iraqi refugees were detained while trying to enter the country. On Friday, Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all immigration from countries with terrorism concerns for 90 days. Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, which are all Muslim-majority nations. (Photo by CRAIG RUTTLE/AP)

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s King Abdullah II is to begin a working visit to Washington on Monday, three days after President Donald Trump temporarily banned entry to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspended the refugee resettlement program.

State media have said the king would meet with administration officials and members of Congress, but did not mention a White House visit.

Pro-Western Jordan isn’t among the countries slapped with the 90-day travel ban, imposed over security concerns, but views refugee resettlement to the US and other countries as a way of easing its own burden; Jordan hosts more than 650,000 displaced Syrians.

Analyst Fahed Khitan said Sunday that a possible US shift in the military campaign against Islamic State extremists will likely be an issue. Jordan belongs to a US-led anti-IS coalition.