President Trump Signs Revised Travel Ban

President Trump quietly signed a new travel ban this Monday – a revised version of the Jan. 27th order that plunged airports into chaos and had leftwing courts whining about discrimination.   

The revised order has narrowed the “banned list of countries” from seven to six (it seems Iraq was dropped from the list in consideration of its valuable role in fighting ISIS) and the 90-day ban affecting travelers from those countries does not apply to those with green cards or valid visas.

Unlike the original order, the ban on Syrian nationals is temporary. 

The revised order shuts down the US refugee program for 120 days and establishes a 50,000 refugee cap for FY 2017 (Obama’s cap was 110,000). Priority will not be based on religion.  

The new ban is designed to avoid the legal challenges encountered by the first ban and to give the government time to decide how it can better vet potential refugees and visitors. 

According to senior officials from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, there are currently 300 refugees in the US being investigated for terror-related causes. 

Moving forward, the DHS will “conduct a country-by-country review of the information the six targeted nations provide to the US for visa and immigration decisions,” reports Newsmax. “Those countries will then have 50 days to comply with US government requests to update or improve that information.” 

“This executive order responsibly provides a needed pause, so we can carefully review how we scrutinize people coming here from these countries of concern,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. 

Unlike the original ban, the new order outlines certain sets of people who will be allowed to apply for case-by-case exceptions – including anyone previously admitted to the US for “a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity,” and individuals with “significant business or professional obligations.”  

It also allows exceptions for those seeking to visit or live with family members. 

The Dems still see it as a Muslim ban, however, and University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck predicts “there’s still going to be plenty of work for the courts to do.” 

“While the White House may have made changes to the ban, the intent to discriminate against Muslims remains clear,” argues NY Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. 

The new order will go into effect on Thursday, March 16th.