Trump celebrated immigrants receiving citizenship at the RNC even though he has tried to keep them out since day one of his administration

• President Donald Trump presided over a naturalization ceremony that was featured during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.
• The five people who gained their citizenship at the ceremony, which was prerecorded, were not told they would be featured during the convention, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Trump welcomed them into "our great American family" and appeared to speak fondly of immigration.
• That messaging, however, belied his record as president, in which he has focused on limiting and preventing immigration.

When President Donald Trump presided over a naturalization ceremony on Tuesday that was recorded and broadcast during that evening's portion of the Republican National Convention, many observers quickly pointed out a dissonance in the messaging.

While Trump praised the five "incredible" new US citizens — who The Wall Street Journal says were not told the ceremony would be used for the RNC — his administration has overwhelmingly focused on anti-immigration policies.

Trump on multiple occasions has moved to introduce blanket immigration bans on various countries. One of the immigrants at the RNC ceremony was from Sudan, a country that was on the list of nations in the 2017 travel ban that also included the predominantly Muslim countries Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. The ban followed Trump's 2016 campaign promise for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."

The ban was revised several times to limit some broad restrictions, but a version of it that excluded Iraq was upheld by the US Supreme Court.

Early this year, Trump to expand the restrictions to more countries.

Trump has also made offensive remarks about other countries. In 2018, during a meeting with lawmakers, Trump was said to have expressed frustration about offering protections to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and Africa. "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" he reportedly said.

Another of the immigrants at Tuesday's ceremony was from Ghana.

In June, he extended a proclamation from April to freeze work visas during the coronavirus pandemic. Visa categories like H-1B, H-2B, H-4, J-1, and L-1 were halted under the order, affecting workers in a wide array of professions.

The tech industry was particularly vocal in opposing the move, which critics say makes the US less competitive globally.

Trump has also cracked down on illegal immigration at the southern border, having run in the 2016 election on a promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico to keep "bad" immigrants out.

He has claimed Mexico was "sending people that have lots of problems" to the US, including "rapists" and people who are "bringing crime" and "bringing drugs."

While two of the five new citizens — Sudha Narayanan and Neimat Awadelseid — told The Journal they didn't mind being featured at the RNC and were celebrating their citizenship, they said they were never told why the ceremony was being held in the White House or that it would be featured.

"He's exploiting these people at a ceremony that is sacred and fundamental to what makes this country great," Tim Miller, the political director for Republican Voters Against Trump, told The Journal. "He's using them in the most cynical and dishonest way. His own policies would cut refugee admissions and asylum status, making it hard for these naturalization ceremonies to happen."