Trumps’ New Travel Ban Exempt Refugees, Green Card Holders

President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order placing a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations.

Iraq – which was covered in the previous seven-nation order – has been removed from the new one after agreeing additional visa vetting measures.

The directive, which includes a 120-day ban on all refugees, takes effect on 16 March.

The previous order, which was blocked by a federal court, sparked confusion at airports and mass protests.

 What is different about the new order?

Citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the other six countries on the original 27 January order, will once more be subject to a 90-day travel ban.

Iraq has been taken off the banned list because its government has boosted visa screening and data sharing, White House officials said.

The new directive says refugees already approved by the State Department can enter the US. It also lifts an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.

Green Card holders (legal permanent residents of the US) from the named countries will not be affected.

The new order does not give priority to religious minorities, unlike the previous directive.

Critics of the Trump administration had argued that this was an unlawful policy showing preference to Christian refugees.

The new order is set to take effect on 16 March.

White House officials hope the 10 days’ notice will help to avoid some of the chaotic scenes at US airports that occurred on 27 January when the first executive order was announced without warning.

Travellers with valid visas who were in the air at the time the ban was signed found themselves detained by border officials on arrival.

Mr Trump had defended the lack of notice tweeting that “if the ban were announced with a one week notice, the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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