PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUES NEW IMMIGRATION BAN

March 7, 2017

 U.S. President Donald Trump issued an “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.”  This new Executive Order (EO) is essentially a watered-down version of his prior immigration ban, which has been effectively halted by litigation.  Today’s EO will ban people from the following six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  It also suspends the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days and prohibits the entry of Syrian refugees into the United States.  While no new refugees will be admitted,  those already formally scheduled for travel by the State Department will be permitted to enter the United States.

Notably, the new EO exempts existing visa holders from travel limits, which significantly limits the ban’s immediate effect (as our readers may recall, the prior ban precluded entry even by individuals from the seven countries who held a valid visa).  Nationals of the six countries with legal permanent residence in the U.S. (i.e. green cards) are similarly not affected, as they were under the prior immigration ban.  Finally, the new EO also does not include Iraq in the list of countries whose citizens are barred from entering the U.S. (Iraq was included in the prior travel ban) and  lacks previous language that appeared to give priority to Christian refugees who were applying from predominantly Muslim countries.  These were some of the more controversial aspects of President Trump’s earlier immigration ban and the Administration’s decision to walk these issues back may signal a willingness to impose more reasonable limits on a going forward basis.

Due to the chaotic implementation of the prior ban, this time around, the Trump Administration has built in a 10-day delay to allow coordination between industry and government, making the new ban effective March 16, 2017.  It remains to be seen whether this ban will also be challenged in Court but, until that occurs, we will continue to keep our readers appraised of new information on how the ban will be implemented as it becomes available.

A full copy of the EO is available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/06/executive-order-protecting-nation-foreign-terrorist-entry-united-states

If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6665).

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Evelyn D. Sahr Photo Washington, D.C.

Evelyn D. Sahr

Member - Washington, D.C.

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Drew M. Derco Photo Washington, D.C.

Drew M. Derco

Member-in-Charge - Washington, D.C.

See full bio