Pentagon praises refugees on same day Donald Trump plans to ban them from United States

People from Iraq and six other countries are to be completely banned from entering the US

Cpl. Ali J. Mohammed, a Baghdad, Iraq native and a supply Marine with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command, stands in front of the painting an Iraqi flag while in Northern Iraq (Lance Cpl. Kyle McNan)

The US Department of Defense has praised a soldier who came to the US as a refugee, as Donald Trump prepares to ban all of them from the country.

The department's official account posted the story of Corporal Ali J Mohammed, who serves in the US Marine Corps. "From refugee to Marine," the account wrote, praising the actions of a soldier who "takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out".

The post is in line with the kind of updates that tend to be done from the account. Except it was sent on the same day that Donald Trump intended to sign an order entirely banning refugees from the US, as part of measures he claimed were required for national security.

Corporal Mohammed moved to the US from Iraq. That is one of the seven countries that Mr Trump will ban from entering the country at all, which also includes Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Anyone from those countries will not be allowed to visit the US until more aggressive vetting procedures are in place. That is expected to take several months and will bring an end to much of the work the US has done in taking in refugees.

In writing about Corporal Mohammed, the official Pentagon account linked out to a story that was posted on the official website of the Marines on 23 January. It tells the story of the soldier, who was born and raised in Baghdad until he was 16.

After receiving death threats for having supported the US in Iraq, Corporal Mohammed and his family were forced to move to the United States.

He decided in November 2014 to sign up to the US Marine Corps and as a result was deployed back to Iraq. He now works in part to translate communications between the Marines and the Department of Defense and members of the Iraqi military.

“To be able to read, write and speak Arabic is normal to him, and for him to be a U.S. Marine and understand how we operate is just phenomenal,” said Major Ryan Hunt, Corporal Mohammed's team leader, in the post on the Marine's website. “He’s just a pleasure to work with and is a huge asset to this team. He’s had such a positive attitude and is very mature; sometimes I forget he’s only 23 years old.”

In the same post, Corporal Mohammed described how "America is my home, but Iraq is my homeland".

“My biggest motivation right now is to help drive these extremist groups out of my home land, and being able to do that as a United States Marine is the most rewarding thing I could have asked for,” he said in the article.