President Trump announces new immigration policy

President Trump released on March 6 Executive Order Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States, a rewriting of his early Executive Order (EO 13769) commonly referred to as the “Travel Ban.” This latest EO includes an updated list of banned countries, excluding Iraq under special circumstances, a freeze on the United States Refugee Admissions Program, and the establishment of a data collection service on visa applicants to the United States from around the world.

This latest EO outlines the six countries from which visas are denied, delayed or subject to extra vetting and approval: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The temporary hold will remain in place for 90 days while the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence conduct a worldwide review to identify what additional information would be needed from the listed countries in order to determine whether the visa-seeking individual is not a security or public safety threat. After the temporary hold expires, they will present the president with a list of countries from the EO that require additional paperwork for visa applications.

The EO revised the previous temporary hold on visas from Iraq. While an outright hold on visas is lifted, Iraqi nationals will be subject to additional scrutiny in order to determine their potential risk to national security or public safety. Iraq and the other listed countries in the ban are also subject to case-by-case waivers for visa issuance and entry into the United States.

The new EO also places a temporary barring on the admittance of refugees from around the world. The ban suspends all decisions on applications for refugee status for the next 120 days. During this period, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence will review the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to determine if and what additional procedures are required. This also includes a case-by-case waiver system. Trump states in the new EO that the number of refugees admitted in the fiscal year of 2017 will not exceed 50,000. There have been 11,657 refugees admitted in fiscal 2017 so far. The Secretary of State will also be tasked with determining if state and local jurisdictions should have greater involvement in refugee placement within their jurisdictions.

The Secretary of Homeland Security will consult with the Attorney General in the release of certain data pertaining to the changes in visa and refugee application outlined in this EO. Such information will include:

• The number of people charged with terrorism-related offenses, convicted of terrorism-related offenses, or been removed from the United States based on terrorism-related activity, affiliation with or support of terrorist organizations;
• The number of foreign nationals that have been radicalized after entry into the United States and convicted of terrorism-related charges;
• The number and types of acts of gender-based violence against women, including “honor killings,” in the United States by foreign nationals;

This report will be released within 180 days of this EO and will include data dating from Sep 11, 2001 to the day of the first report. Subsequent reports will be released every 180 days.

The Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States will go live 12:01 a.m., EDT on March 16.