As forecast on Friday, President Trump has dropped a fresh version of his travel ban ahead of the Supreme Court hearings on the constitutionality of the order as a whole. SCOTUS has already allowed Trump to bar most refugees from entering the U.S., and the justices will make a ruling on this newest version on Oct. 10. As the New York Times reports, one notable aspect of this proclamation is that it will be “indefinitely” enforced, whereas the previous versions were considered “temporary” ones.
Now, onto the substance. The original travel ban (widely known as the “Muslim ban”) was that Trump stopped travelers from seven Muslim majority countries from entering the U.S. The second version omitted Iraq from the list, and the third version drops Sudan but adds Chad and North Korea with some restrictions on citizens of Iraq and Venezuela. So, the new ban — on most travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen — is scheduled to take effect on October 18. The fact that not every country on this list is a Muslim majority one is significant and certainly geared toward any legal argument that this is a religious-based order.
Aaaand Trump nabbed another opportunity to flip the bird at Kim Jong-un (winning!). Again, the president justifies his ban for reasons of national security, and each country will have its own set of guidelines to juggle:
Officials described the new order as a much more targeted effort than the president’s earlier one. Each of the countries will be under its own set of travel restrictions, though in most cases citizens of the countries will be unable to emigrate to the United States personally and most will be barred from coming to work, study or vacation in America.
Iran, for example, will still be able to send its citizens on student exchanges, though such visitors will be subject to enhanced screening. Certain government officials of Venezuela and their families will be barred from visiting the United States. Somalis will no longer be allowed to emigrate to the United States, but may visit with extra screening..
The proclamation also makes noises about the possible review and loosening of restrictions for the listed countries if they do what Iraq did previously, which is to meet “minimum standards” on screening travelers as set out in the guidelines. Trump declared that most nations met these guidelines already, but he’s still very troubled by security measures of the seven that now sit on his list. And come October 10, we’ll see how SCOTUS feels about Trump’s newest nationalist effort.
(Via New York Times)