New Trump travel ban clears confusion, exempts Green Card holders

NTD Staff
By NTD Staff
March 7, 2017US News
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President Donald Trump signed a revised executive order on Monday (March 6) banning citizens from six Middle Eastern nations from traveling to the United States but removing Iraq from the list, after his first attempt was blocked in the courts.

The new order, which takes effect on March 16, keeps a 90-day ban on travel to the United States by citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It applies only to new visa applicants, meaning some 60,000 people whose visas were revoked under the previous order will now be permitted to enter.

Immigration advocates said the new ban still discriminated against Muslims and failed to address some of their concerns with the previous order. Legal experts said it would, however, be harder to challenge because it affects fewer people living in the United States and allows more exemptions to protect them.

Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota praised the order.

“The president’s trying to keep Americans safe and we know that in these six countries that are remaining, those countries are not in a position to actually vet their own individuals trying to leave in an appropriate fashion. So it’s okay if we take a short period of time, perhaps 120 days as suggested, and make sure that our policies are in place such that we can do a good job of vetting these individuals,” he said.

Trump, who first proposed a temporary travel ban on Muslims during his presidential campaign last year, had said his original January 27 executive order was a national security measure meant to head off attacks by Islamist militants.

It sparked chaos and protests at airports, where visa holders were detained and later deported back to their home countries. It also drew criticism from targeted countries, Western allies and some of America’s leading corporations before a U.S. judge suspended it on February 3.

 

(Reuters)

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