Donald Trump merged meaning of 'refugee' and 'terrorist' in minds of many Americans, says Richard Gere

'A 'refugee' used to be someone that we had empathy for...Now we're afraid of them'

Richard Gere at the Berlin Film Festival. He used the occasion to criticise Donald Trump's attitude to refugees (TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s “biggest crime” has been to merge the meanings of ‘refugee’ and ‘terrorist’, according to Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

The star criticised the President’s use of semantics at the Berlin Film Festival.

He said Mr Trump had been successful in turning a large proportion of US citizens against refugees.

"The most horrible thing that Trump has done is conflated two words: 'refugee' and 'terrorist'," Mr Gere said.

“It means the same thing in the US now. That's what he's accomplished to a large segment of our population."

Mr Gere, who has a long history of liberal political activism, continued: "A 'refugee' used to be someone that we had empathy for ...someone we wanted to help who we wanted to give refuge to.

"Now we're afraid of them and this ...is the biggest crime in itself: conflating these two ideas."

In January, Mr Trump signed an executive order banning the entry of all refugees for 120 days, and banned refugees from Syria indefinitely.

Mr Trump also signed a travel ban aimed at banning people from seven majority Muslim countries. It has been blocked in the courts, but the President has said he will sign another order with similar intentions.

Critics said the bans violated a number of basic human rights, including the right of non-discrimination based on race, religion, or country of origin, and the right to life for asylum seekers.

Reuters contributed to this report