--- description: Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center, shares intense criticisms of President Donald Trump's executive orders. title: Anne Frank Center Says Donald Trump Is Driving the U.S. 'Off a Moral Cliff' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ff76e1191f13a9f/6988b778f887dc5aafe98d61/anne-frank-world-war-ii-museum-donald-trump-critic-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Anne Frank Center Says Donald Trump Is Driving the U.S. 'Off a Moral Cliff' ## Video: What to Know About President Trump's Immigration Orders [Watch (HLS stream): What to Know About President Trump's Immigration Orders](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pGFFV8Yk.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2017-01-25. President Donald Trump green-lighted construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico he repeatedly called for while campaigning via an executive action._ by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2017 8:08 PM CUT  Anne Frank, a German Jew who emigrated with her family to the Netherlands during the Nazi period. Separated from the rest of her family, she and her sister died of typhoid fever in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Anne Frank, a German Jew who emigrated with her family to the Netherlands during the Nazi period. Separated from the rest of her family, she and her sister died of typhoid fever in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.ullstein bild—ullstein bild/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2017 8:08 PM CUT President Donald Trump’s [executive orders](http://time.com/4648516/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") concerning U.S. immigration policy and refugees have prompted intense criticism from the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, the U.S.-based partner of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The center’s executive director, Steven Goldstein, wrote a long [post on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/AnneFrankCenterforMutualRespect/posts/10155065271124040 "undefined") on Wednesday, saying Trump “is beyond the wrong side of history” and warned that he is “driving our nation off a moral cliff.” “Donald Trump is retracting the promise of American freedom to an extent we have not seen from a President since Franklin Roosevelt forced Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II,” Goldstein wrote. “Today the Statue of Liberty weeps over President Trump’s discrimination.” The organization has also posted heated messages from its Twitter account. > [](https://twitter.com/AnneFrankCenter/status/824436577195663365) Trump on Wednesday signed an [executive order](http://time.com/4648516/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") that calls for the immediate construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and for new aggressive actions to find and deport undocumented immigrants. The [_New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/refugees-immigrants-wall-trump.html "undefined")published another draft executive order to indefinitely stop Syrian refugees from entering the United States and ban all refugees from any country for at least 120 days. Anne Frank’s father, Otto, [founded](http://annefrank.com/about-the-center/ "undefined") the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in 1959\. During World War II, the Frank family spent two years hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam before they were found and sent to a concentration camp. Otto Frank was the only member of his family to survive, and after he arranged for his daughter’s diary to be published as _Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl_, it became of the best-known accounts of Jewish life during the Nazi era. American University professor Richard Breitman has written about documents that showed the Franks tried to obtain visas to flee to America in 1941, according to the [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/26/a-charity-set-up-by-anne-franks-father-has-become-a-fierce-critic-of-trumps-plans-for-refugees/?utm%5Fterm=.2ab173cdf592 "undefined"), but the family was unsuccessful due to U.S. immigration policies. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650779/donald-trump-executive-orders-anne-frank-center/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650779/donald-trump-executive-orders-anne-frank-center/"},"headline":"Anne Frank Center Says Donald Trump Is Driving the U.S. 'Off a Moral Cliff'","datePublished":"2017-01-26T20:08:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:39:23.168Z","description":"After Trump signs executive orders","url":"https://time.com/4650779/donald-trump-executive-orders-anne-frank-center/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Refugees","Immigration","Syrian refugees","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ff76e1191f13a9f/6988b778f887dc5aafe98d61/anne-frank-world-war-ii-museum-donald-trump-critic-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ff76e1191f13a9f/6988b778f887dc5aafe98d61/anne-frank-world-war-ii-museum-donald-trump-critic-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Anne Frank, German Jew who emigrated with her family to the Netherlands during the Nazi period. 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