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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on Monday, banning immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, but excluded Iraq from his previous list of seven banned nations.
“The unrestricted entry into the United States of nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. I, therefore, direct that the entry into the United States of nationals of those six countries be suspended for 90 days from the effective date of this order, subject to the limitations, waivers, and exceptions set forth in sections this order,” he said.
In the executive order, released by the White House, President Trump also said that since Iraq was “a special case,” it deserved an exemption.
“The close cooperative relationship between the United States and the democratically elected Iraqi government, the strong United States diplomatic presence in Iraq, the significant presence of United States forces in Iraq, and Iraq’s commitment to combat ISIS justify different treatment for Iraq,” he added.
President Trump noted that the implementation of his Jan 27 executive order has been delayed by litigation. He regretted that the enforcement of critical provisions of that order has also been temporarily halted by court orders that apply nationwide and extend even to foreign nationals with no prior or substantial connection to the United States.
On Feb 9, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to stay or narrow one such order pending the outcome of further judicial proceedings.
President Trump said that nationals from the countries banned in his previous order warranted additional scrutiny because the conditions in those countries present heightened threats.
“Each of these countries is a state sponsor of terrorism, has been significantly compromised by terrorist organisations, or contains active conflict zones,” he said. “Once foreign nationals from these countries are admitted to the United States, it is often difficult to remove them, because many of these countries typically delay issuing, or refuse to issue, travel documents.”
The executive order also included brief descriptions, from the US Department of State’s Country Reports on Terrorism (June 2016), of conditions in six of the previously designated countries to demonstrate why their nationals continue to present heightened risks to the security of the United States.
“In light of the conditions in these six countries, until the assessment of current screening and vetting procedures required by section 2 of this order is completed, the risk of erroneously permitting entry of a national of one of these countries who intends to commit terrorist acts or otherwise harm the national security of the United States is unacceptably high,” Trump said.
“Accordingly, while that assessment is ongoing, I am imposing a temporary pause on the entry of nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, subject to categorical exceptions and case-by-case waivers, as described in section 3 of this order,” he added.
President Trump claimed that some of those who recently entered the United States through its immigration system had proved to be threats to America’s national security. “Since 2001, hundreds of persons born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States. They have included not just persons who came here legally on visas but also individuals who first entered the country as refugees,” he claimed.
In a separate memorandum to the secretary of state, attorney general and the secretary of homeland security, President Trump named the new order as, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” act.
Exemptions and suspensions in new US order:
President Trump’s new executive order also includes the follow exemptions and suspensions:
The suspension of entry shall apply only to foreign nationals of the designated countries who:
(i) are outside the United States on the effective date of this order;
(ii) did not have a valid visa at 5pm, eastern standard time on Jan 27, 2017; and
(iii) do not have a valid visa on the effective date of this order.
(b) Exceptions. The suspension of entry shall not apply to:
(i) any lawful permanent resident of the United States;
(ii) any foreign national who is admitted to or paroled into the United States on or after the effective date of this order;
(iii) any foreign national who has a document other than a visa, valid on the effective date of this order or issued on any date thereafter, that permits him or her to travel to the United States and seek entry or admission, such as an advance parole document;
(iv) any dual national of a country designated under this order when the individual is travelling on a passport issued by a non-designated country;
(v) any foreign national travelling on a diplomatic or diplomatic-type visa, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation visa, C-2 visa for travel to the United Nations, or G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4 visa; or
(vi) any foreign national who has been granted asylum; any refugee who has already been admitted to the United States; or any individual who has been granted withholding of removal, advance parole, or protection under the Convention Against Torture.
Waivers:
A consular officer, or, as appropriate, the Commissioner, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the Commissioner’s delegee, may, in the consular officer’s or the CBP official’s discretion, decide on a case-by-case basis to authorise the issuance of a visa to, or to permit the entry of, a foreign national for whom entry is otherwise suspended if the foreign national has demonstrated to the officer’s satisfaction that denying entry during the suspension period would cause undue hardship, and that his or her entry would not pose a threat to national security and would be in the national interest.
Unless otherwise specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, any waiver issued by a consular officer as part of the visa issuance process will be effective both for the issuance of a visa and any subsequent entry on that visa, but will leave all other requirements for admission or entry unchanged. Case-by-case waivers could be appropriate in circumstances such as the following:
(i) the foreign national has previously been admitted to the United States for a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity, is outside the United States on the effective date of this order, seeks to re-enter the United States to resume that activity, and the denial of re-entry during the suspension period would impair that activity;
(ii) the foreign national has previously established significant contacts with the United States but is outside the United States on the effective date of this order for work, study, or other lawful activity;
(iii) the foreign national seeks to enter the United States for significant business or professional obligations and the denial of entry during the suspension period would impair those obligations;
(iv) the foreign national seeks to enter the United States to visit or reside with a close family member (e.g., a spouse, child, or parent) who is a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien lawfully admitted on a valid non-immigrant visa, and the denial of entry during the suspension period would cause undue hardship;
(v) the foreign national is an infant, a young child or adoptee, an individual needing urgent medical care, or someone whose entry is otherwise justified by the special circumstances of the case;
(vi) the foreign national has been employed by, or on behalf of, the United States Government (or is an eligible dependent of such an employee) and the employee can document that he or she has provided faithful and valuable service to the United States Government;
(vii) the foreign national is travelling for purposes related to an international organisation designated under the International Organisations Immunities Act., travelling for purposes of conducting meetings or business with the United States Government, or travelling to conduct business on behalf of an international organisation not designated under the IOIA;
(viii) the foreign national is a landed Canadian immigrant who applies for a visa at a location within Canada; or
(ix) the foreign national is travelling as a United States Government-sponsored exchange visitor.
Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2017
