WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is preparing to sign a revised executive order temporarily barring the entry of people from certain Muslim-majority countries and halting the nation’s refugee program.

A White House official says plans to roll out the order are on track for Monday. The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the order ahead of the official announcement.

The new order has been in the works since shortly after a federal court blocked Trump’s initial effort, but the administration has repeatedly pushed back the signing as it has worked to better co-ordinate with the agencies that it will need to implement the ban.

Trump administration officials have said the new order aims to overcome the legal challenges to the first. Its goal will be the same: keep would-be terrorists out of the United States while the government reviews the vetting system for refugees and visa applicants from certain parts of the world.

Trump’s original orders temporarily blocked citizens of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya from coming to the United States and put on hold the U.S. refugee program.

The revised order is expected to remove Iraq from the list of countries whose citizens face a temporary U.S. travel ban for 90 days. That follows pressure from the Pentagon and State Department, which had urged the White House to reconsider, given Iraq’s key role in fighting the Islamic State group.

According to a draft version of the new order outlined to lawmakers late last week, citizens of the other six countries will face the 90-day suspension of visa processing as the administration continues to analyze how to enhance vetting procedures.

Other changes are also expected, including making clear that all existing visas will be honoured and no longer singling out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban. Syrian refugees will now be treated like other refugees and be subjected to a 120-day suspension of the refugee program.

The new version is also expected to remove language that would give priority for religious minorities. Critics had accused the administration of adding such language to help Christians get into the United States while excluding Muslims.

Trump signed his original executive order in late January, sparking confusion and anger as travellers were detained at U.S. airports and barred from boarding flights at foreign airports.

The signing is expected to spark a new round of lawsuits and controversy. </s> US President Donald Trump is preparing to sign a revised executive order temporarily barring the entry of people from certain Muslim-majority countries and halting the nation’s refugee program. A White House official says plans to roll out the order are on track for Monday. The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the order ahead of the official announcement.

The new order has been in the works since shortly after a federal court blocked Trump’s initial effort, but the administration has repeatedly pushed back the signing. Trump administration officials have said the new order aims to overcome the legal challenges to the first. Its goal will be the same: keep would-be terrorists out of the United States while the government reviews the vetting system for refugees and visa applicants from certain parts of the world.

Trump’s original orders temporarily blocked citizens of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya from coming to the United States and put on hold the US refugee program. The revised order is expected to remove Iraq from the list of countries whose citizens face a temporary US travel ban, following pressure from the Pentagon and State Department, which had urged the White House to reconsider, given Iraq’ key role in fighting the Islamic State group.

The new order is also expected to make other changes, including no longer singling out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban and making clear that all existing visas will be honored. Trump signed his original executive order in late January, sparking confusion and anger as travelers were detained at US airports and barred from boarding flights at foreign airports. The signing is expected to spark a new round of lawsuits and outrage. </s> President Donald Trump on Friday intended to sign an executive action Friday temporarily halting the flow of refugees into the United Sates and stopping all entries from some majority-Muslim nations, his spokesman said.

A draft of the order obtained by The Associated Press also includes an indefinite ban on accepting Syrian refugees, and the pause in the broader refugee program extends for 120 days.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to put in place "extreme vetting" procedures particularly for people coming to the U.S. from countries with terrorism ties. According to the draft order, the president plans to suspend issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 30 days.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump intended to sign the order during a Friday afternoon visit to the Pentagon, along with actions related to military readiness and the National Security Council. Details of those directives were not immediately clear.

While at the Pentagon, Trump was expected to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and attend a ceremonial swearing-in for Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Trump has the authority to determine how many refugees are accepted annually; he can suspend the program at any time. Refugee processing was suspended in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and restarted months later.

During the last budget year, the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria. President Barack Obama had set the refugee limit for this budget year at 110,000.

Trump, according to the impending executive order, planned to cut that program by more half to 50,000. The draft order said while the program is suspended, the U.S. may admit people on a case-by-case basis "when in the national interest" and the government would continue to process refugee requests from people claiming religious persecution, "provided that the religion ... is a minority religion in the individual's country." That suggests that would allow the admission of Christians from Muslim-majority countries. </s> President Trump's executive order denying all refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries reverberated across the USA and around the globe Saturday. The overarching ban, which remains in place, suspends the entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, halts the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely and bars entry for three months to residents from the predominantly Muslim countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Below are the latest updates on the ban and related protests from The Associated Press. Reload this post for the most recent news.

The attorney generals of 15 states and the District of Columbia are issuing a joint statement condemning as unconstitutional President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

The attorney generals say that religious liberty has been a bedrock principle of the country and no president can change that truth.

The states taking part in the joint statement issued Sunday are Washington, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Virginia, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, New Mexico, Iowa, Maine and Maryland.

The attorney generals say they expect Trump's executive order to be struck down, but in the meantime they'll work to make sure as few as possible suffer as a result of the order.

The conservative Koch political network is condemning President Donald Trump's plan to crack down on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

Network co-chairman Brian Hooks said in a statement released Sunday, "The travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive." He added, "We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families."

Hooks made the comments as billionaire industrialist Charles Koch and hundreds of his network's major donors gather for a semi-annual conference in Palm Springs, California.

The Koch network is among the most influential players in the conservative movement and has strong ties in the Trump administration, particularly with Vice President Mike Pence.

Demonstrators have gathered again at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to protest President Donald Trump's executive order barring citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations from entry into the U.S.

An estimated 200 people held signs and chanted "Let them go!" as they awaited word Sunday on what state representatives for the Council on American-Islamic Relations say are nine people detained at the airport. The council says the majority are Iranian.

Other protests are planned for other parts of Texas over Trump's executive order, including in Houston and at the airport in Austin.

Protesters also are rallying Sunday at Miami International Airport and elsewhere around the country.

Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union say they are still trying to determine how many people are detained in the U.S. as a result of President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project deputy director Lee Gelernt told reporters in a conference call Sunday that there is still a state of confusion over the status of detainees and the rules for entering the country.

He said lawyers are waiting for the government to give them a list of names of people who have been detained.

Until then, he said, "we just simply don't know how many people there are and where they are."

Other advocates say that immigration lawyers have had trouble getting to see people who have been detained, with officials refusing to grant access despite court orders in some jurisdictions that they do so.

An Oscar-nominated Iranian director says he will not attend this year's Academy Awards because of a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump.

Asghar Farhadi is an acclaimed director whose film "The Salesman" was nominated for best foreign film. He said Sunday that the uncertainty surrounding his ability to travel to the United States was "in no way acceptable," and that he would not attend the ceremony even if an exception to the ban were possible.

An executive order issued last week temporarily bans the entry of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. The Trump administration says it is necessary to keep out potential terrorists.

Farhadi became the first Iranian to win an Oscar when his film "A Separation" was awarded best foreign film in 2012.

The head of the University of Notre Dame is calling on President Donald Trump to rescind his restrictions on refugees entering the United States.

The Rev. John Jenkins on Sunday called Trump's action indiscriminate and abrupt and predicted it would diminish the country.

Trump signed an executive order Friday suspending the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and barring the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely. The order also temporarily stops entry for citizens of six other majority Muslim nations.

Notre Dame is considered one of the flagship institutions of American Catholicism. The university invites U.S. presidents to speak at commencement, including President Barack Obama, who spoke in 2009. A Notre Dame spokesman says the school has not yet decided whether to invite Trump.

A Syrian musician who recently toured with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma says he is waiting to see whether he will be allowed to return to his New York home after President Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations.

Kinan Azmeh, a clarinet player who lives in Brooklyn, said Sunday he does not have a "plan B" if he is not allowed back into the United States later this week.

Azmeh is in Lebanon to perform with a local orchestra after rehearsing and performing with Yo-Yo Ma in China and Denmark earlier this month.

The 40-year-old musician is one of thousands of green card holders who found their immigration status in limbo after Trump's order Friday.

Azmeh was born in Damascus and moved to the U.S. 16 years ago.

Iranian-born Swedish actress Bahar Pars, who hopes to share an Oscar for best foreign film, fears the ban will affect any possible plans to fly to the United States.

The 37-year-old Pars, who came to Sweden as a child, plays the female lead in the Swedish Oscar-nominated film "A Man Called Ove."

She told Swedish national news agency TT that "it's not at all certain that I'm going to get in."

Describing Trump's executive order as racist, she told TT it took her two months to get her visa to the U.S. approved after applying using her Iranian passport.

She said she was "very upset" by this, but added that it would also be good to go there and say to the whole world this is wrong.

The European Union's foreign policy chief lashed out at U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, insisting that instead of building walls, the continent will "celebrate" every wall which is torn down and "every new bridge that is built up."

Building on criticism from several national EU capitals on Trump's decision to impose a travel ban on refugees, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini said that "all men are first and foremost human beings, with their inalienable rights."

She says in a blog post that "everyone deserves respect, beyond their faith, gender, and nationality."

And she added between brackets "it feels so strange that we need to restate this, just days after Holocaust Remembrance Day."

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah says U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policy "seems to have made me an alien" and fears he may not be able to return to his U.S. home.

Farah is a British citizen who was born in Somalia, one of seven predominantly Muslim nations subject to the executive order signed by Trump that temporarily bans entry to the United States.

Farah currently is training in Ethiopia. His family is based in Portland, Oregon.

The 33-year-old says on his Facebook page that "it's deeply troubling" he will have to tell his children that he might not be able to come home.

Farah's agent told The Associated Press that they were trying to clarify the situation with U.S. authorities.

The White House chief of staff says President Donald Trump acted early on in his term to impose a travel ban on refugees to block "people who want to do bad things to America."

Reince Priebus says there's nothing to apologize for after Friday's executive order drew widespread protests. A court order has temporarily barred the U.S. from deporting certain people.

Trump is temporarily barring refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

Priebus tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that the action "doesn't affect green card holders moving forward" — the subject of legal challenges.

Scores were detained Saturday upon arrival at U.S. airports, spurring the judge's order.

Priebus says officials were using "discretionary authority" to ask "a few more questions" at U.S. airports.

A petition set up on a British government website calling for U.S. President Donald Trump to be barred from visiting the country has attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures, qualifying it for a parliamentary debate.

Trump has drawn widespread condemnation in Britain for his ban on refugees and people from selected Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

Prime Minister Theresa May invited him to make a state visit to Britain this year during her trip to Washington last week.

The petition on the British parliament's website is titled: "Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom." It says his "well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received" by either Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles.

The website says parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for debate.

A top adviser to President Donald Trump says a federal judge's emergency order "really doesn't affect" his efforts to temporarily bar refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

Kellyanne Conway says on "Fox News Sunday" that a federal judge's late Saturday emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to Trump's travel ban "really doesn't affect the executive order at all."

Conway says Trump's order is about "preventing, not detaining" and says that only a very small percentage of travers have been impacted.

Conway says that it's a "small price to pay" to keep the American public safe.

Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates' national airline, says a number of its passengers have been affected by the new U.S. immigration policies and it is working closely with American officials on the matter.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier said Sunday it is offering affected passengers refunds or flight changes where possible. It did not say how many passengers were affected.

Etihad passengers flying to the U.S. are screened and have their passports stamped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stationed in the Emirati capital rather than on arrival. Etihad says it is working with officials there and in the U.S. to address the new immigration policies.

The airline says: "Our joint interest is on ensuring that compliance and the well-being of all passengers is maintained across our global network."

President Donald Trump's immigration order is getting pushback in Congress.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio says "I think we should slow down" and that lawmakers "ought to be part" of the discussions about how best to tighten screening for foreigners who enter the United States.

Portman tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he doesn't think Trump executive action was properly reviewed before he signed it Friday.

Portman is urging everyone "to take a deep breath and come up with something that makes sense for our national security" and reflects the fact that "America's always been a welcoming home for refugees and immigrants."

He says America is "this beacon of hope and opportunity for the rest of the world" and should remain that way.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says the Netherlands is convinced that refugees "deserve a safe shelter regardless of their origin or religion."

In a statement Sunday, Rutte added that he and Foreign Minister Bert Koenders regret the U.S. travel restrictions and reject them.

The condemnation from the Dutch government drew a swift rebuke from anti-Islam populist lawmaker Geert Wilders. Wilders tweeted in Dutch: "What a weakling."

Wilders advocates closing Dutch borders to immigrants from Islamic nations. He is polling strongly ahead of March 15 elections for the lower house of Dutch Parliament.

Switzerland's foreign minister says U.S. President Donald Trump's order to freeze immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries goes "in the wrong direction."

Didier Burkhalter said in a statement Sunday that it was "up to the American authorities to decide the immigration conditions in their country."

But he said measures taken to prevent terrorism must "respect fundamental rights as well as international law" and suggested Trump's order fails to do so.

Burkhalter said that as far as the rules apply to refugees it would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions for the United States, a signatory, to impose a general ban on people coming from Syria.

He said Switzerland would monitor the situation closely and provide its citizens with support, if necessary.

Iraqis say they are shocked and disappointed with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning citizens from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Halima Khalaf, 72, has been living in Washington state with her sons, daughters and grandchildren for four years. She returned to Iraq earlier this month to attend her brother's funeral and now fears she may not be able to go back to the United States.

In an interview Sunday, she said "Iraqis are not terrorists, but friends to the American people."

Baghdad resident Sarmad Salih Ahmed, who has been trying to resettle in the United States since 2014, said he's "depressed" because of the order, which he says is against "humanity."

Trump billed his sweeping executive order as a necessary step to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to the U.S. It included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, and a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program.

Iran has summoned the Swiss envoy to Tehran over U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order suspending the entry of refugees and citizens from Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

The semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying Sunday that the temporary travel ban is a "violation of mutual obligations, such as the 1955 treaty between the two countries."

Iran and the U.S. have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, when Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Switzerland looks after U.S. interests in Iran.

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party says the planned state visit by U.S. President Donald Trump should be postponed until he lifts his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday questioned the invitation for Trump to visit Britain later this year extended by British Prime Minister Theresa May during her visit to Washington last week.

He says he is "not happy" with Trump visiting "until that ban is lifted."

Referring to "awful attacks on Muslims," ''awful misogynist language" and the "absurd idea" of building a wall along the Mexican border, Corbyn says Britain should make it clear to the Trump administration "that we are extremely upset about it, and I think it would be totally wrong for him to be coming here while that situation is going on."

Dubai Airports, the operator the world's busiest airport for international travel, said it is "monitoring the situation" after the United States imposed a temporary travel ban on seven countries.

It directed customers with questions on the new visa policies to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website or their booking agent.

The airport operator runs Dubai International Airport, which is the world's third busiest overall and handles more international passengers than any other. It is the hub for Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, which flies to 12 U.S. cities.

Emirates said in a written response to questions that "a very small number" of passengers were affected by the entry restrictions, without providing details. The state-owned airline said it helping those affected to rebook their flights or get refunds.

The carrier said none of its crew members, who are drawn from countries around the world, were affected by the change. Airline crew from the seven banned countries would also be subject to the ban if working on a U.S.-bound flight.

The airline says it has "made the necessary adjustments to our crewing, to comply with the latest requirements. Emirates continues to operate flights to the US as scheduled."

The travel ban applies to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to speak by phone with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi.

The White House says they are expected to speak later Sunday.

Neither Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter, nor the United Arab Emirates, home to the commercial hub of Dubai, are included in a new U.S. travel ban that applies to seven Muslim-majority countries.

Both countries are close U.S. allies and part of the coalition battling the Islamic State group.

The Iraqi government says it understands the security motives behind President Donald Trump's decision to ban seven predominantly Muslim nations, including Iraq, from entering the United States, but underlined that their "special relationship" should be taken into consideration.

Government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi says Iraqis are hoping that the new orders "will not affect the efforts of strengthening and developing the bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States."

Al-Hadithi told The Associated Press on Sunday the government hopes the "measures will be temporary and for regulatory reasons and not permanent at least for Iraq."

The order, signed Friday, included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen. It also suspended the U.S. refugee program for four months.

The impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and citizens of seven mostly-Muslim countries from entering the United States was felt immediately in Britain.

A British lawmaker who was born in the Iraqi capital Baghdad said on Sunday he feels discriminated against "for the first time in my life."

Nadhim Zahawi, a member of parliament since 2010, says lawyers advised him he will not be able to enter the U.S. under the ban introduced on Friday.

Zahawi describes the impact on him and his family as "demeaning." He told local television his sons studying in the U.S. would not be able to visit Britain without facing a 90-day delay in returning to their studies.

An Iranian woman living in Scotland, Hamaseh Tayari, was stranded in Costa Rica in the wake of the ban, unable to board her scheduled flight home because it stopped in New York. She was seeking an alternative route with help from funds raised by a crowdfunding campaign.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel says the German leader believes the Trump administration's travel ban on people from some Muslim-majority countries is wrong.

Germany's dpa news agency quoted Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert saying Sunday that "she is convinced that even the necessary, resolute fight against terrorism doesn't justify putting people of a particular origin or particular faith under general suspicion."

Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone Saturday for the first time since his inauguration. A joint U.S.-German statement following the call made no mention of the topic of refugees or travel bans.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has criticized President Donald Trump's order temporarily banning refugees from entering the United States.

Her official spokesman said Sunday that May does "not agree" with Trump's order and will challenge the US government if it has an adverse effect on British nationals.

The official comment came after May refused to condemn the ban during a visit to Turkey to meet with Turkish leaders. She said in Turkey the decision was a matter solely for the United States.

After she returned to Britain from a whirlwind visit to Washington, where she met Trump at the White House, and Turkey, her spokesman said Britain did not approve of Trump's policy.

The British government is studying the order to gauge its impact on British nationals.

The Homeland Security Department says a New York court order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban will not affect the overall implementation of the White House executive action.

The agency said the court order affected a relatively small number of travelers who were inconvenienced by security procedures upon their return.

The department's statement said: "President Trump's Executive Orders remain in place— prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety," according to the DHS statement.

Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the White House, said that nothing in the judge's order "in anyway impedes or prevents the implementation of the president's executive order which remains in full, complete and total effect." </s> President Donald Trump has signed a revised version of his executive order banning immigrants and refugees from entering the United States.

In case you need a refresher: Trump signed the initial executive order in January, causing widespread chaos and protests at airports. Federal judges ultimately deemed the measure unconstitutional and blocked it in February. So Trump's administration decided to try again—drafting a new version of the blocked order.

Officials from the Departments of Homeland Security told New York Times reporters Monday that the revised order was designed to respond to legal concerns and address an urgent national security risk (the flow of immigrants and refugees into the country). And in a statement about the order's signing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the new order "a vital measure for strengthening our national security" and said Trump is "exercising his rightful authority to keep our people safe."

Here are the five major ways the revised order differs from the original:
• The original order prevented citizens from seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—from entering the United States for a 90-day period following the order's signing. The new order no longer blocks citizens from Iraq from entry. (The Pentagon and State Department reportedly encouraged the administration to take Iraq—an ally in the fight against ISIS—off the list, according to NBC News . Per a White House fact sheet obtained by The New York Times : The state department has been in negotiations with Iraq about this, and Iraq agreed to be more cooperative in helping the United States vet Iraqi citizens who want to obtain U.S. visas.)
• The original order banned refugees from any country from entry for a 120-day period following the order's signing, and it barred Syrian refugees from entry indefinitely. But it included explicit case-by-case exceptions for religious minorities, preexisting international agreements, and undue hardship. The new order no longer contains the religious minority protection.
• The original order affected all immigrants—including those who had been issued visas. The new order does not impact immigrants who had already been issued visas by the day the order was signed (today).
• The original order was enforced immediately after the order's signing, which led to previously approved immigrants with visas being detained at American airports and caused nationwide protests . The new order will be phased in over a two-week period in an attempt to avoid this chaos and confusion, and it will fully go into effect March 16.
• Like we mentioned earlier, the original order banned Syrian refugees from entering the United States indefinitely. The new order only bans them for 120 days (the same length of time it bans all refugees).

While the new order was designed to hold up in courts, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say the revision still might not be defensible. "The Trump administration…has replaced [the order] with a scaled-back version that shares the same fatal flaws,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, tells SELF. “[Trump] can expect continued disapproval from both the courts and the people."

Click here to read the full text of Trump's original order , and here to read the full text of the new one .

Feeling motivated to act? There are tons of ways to make your voice heard. SELF's resources on finding activist opportunities and getting involved in policy decisions are great places to start. And if you're passionate about women's access to reproductive health care in particular, you can also consider: donating to the Center for Reproductive Rights , volunteering for NARAL Pro-Choice America , donating to the Reproductive Health Access Project , or volunteering for Planned Parenthood .
• What's the Difference Between Immigrants and Refugees?
• 14 People You Didn't Know Were Refugees
• How I'm Helping Those Affected by the Executive Order on Refugees and Immigration

Also: Trump Says Refugees Are Surging Into U.S.—It's True But Misleading (from Newsy) </s> President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order blocking the arrival of travelers from six conflict-prone countries for 90 days, and freezing the inflow of refugees from any country for the next 120 days.

The new order shifts the task of stopping the refugees from officers at U.S. airports over to officials at U.S. embassies overseas, who have been told to stop preparing needed travel documents until Trump’s aides complete a national security review, according to documents released today by the White House.

The shift to overseas embassies may prevent judges from trying to block the new order, just as three California judges on Feb. 3 blocked part of Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order on refugees. Under the Constitution, judges have even less authority to block administrative actions in overseas embassies than judges now claim to have over officers working for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The order blocks document processing for would-be refugees from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. A seventh country, Iraq, was dropped from the list when Iraqi officials promised to upgrade their security checks, the White House said.

The order also cuts the annual inflow of refugees from 110,000 to 50,000, and orders federal officials to determine the law allows local communities any say in where refugees are settled in the United States.

The new order cancels the prior refugee order. Officials also say the new order begins March 16, so giving time for people with valid visas to get into the United States.

According to an explanation released by the White House:

Per the Executive Order, foreign nationals from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen, who are outside the United States and who did not have a valid visa at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 27, 2017, and do not have a valid visa on the effective date of this order are not eligible to enter the United States while the temporary suspension remains in effect. Thus any individual who had a valid visa either on January 27, 2017 (prior to 5:00 PM) or holds a valid visa on the effective date of the Executive Order is not barred from entry … Visas will not be revoked solely as a result of the Executive Order. The Department of State has broad authority under Section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to revoke visas… Returning refugees and asylees, i.e., individuals who have already been granted asylum or refugee status in the United States, are explicitly excepted from this Executive Order. As such, they may continue to travel consistent with existing requirements…. The Executive Order is effective at 12:01 A.M., Eastern Standard Time, on March 16, 2017.

The new order also shows how the president has the full authority under the Constitution and the laws to curb the inflow of refugees, despite opposition form U.S-based Islamic groups, judges, progressives and Democratic party legislators. The presidential claim of legal authority is needed to push back against judges, such as the three California judges who declared Feb. 3 that U.S. businesses and individuals can get judges to grant visas to foreign individuals.

The Executive Order signed on March 6, 2017, allows for the proper review and establishment of standards to prevent terrorist or criminal infiltration by foreign nationals. The United States has the world’s most generous immigration system, yet it has been repeatedly exploited by terrorists and other malicious actors who seek to do us harm. In order to ensure that the U.S. Government can conduct a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the national security risks posed from our immigration system, the Executive Order imposes a 90-day suspension of entry to the United States of nationals of certain designated countries—countries that were designated by Congress and the Obama Administration as posing national security risks with respect to visa-free travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. The U.S. Government must ensure that those entering this country will not harm the American people after entering, and that they do not bear malicious intent toward the United States and its people. The Executive Order, together with the Presidential Memorandum, protects the United States from countries compromised by terrorism and ensures a more rigorous vetting process. This Executive Order ensures that we have a functional immigration system that safeguards our national security… The Congress provided the President of the United States, in section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), with the authority to suspend the entry of any class of aliens the President deems detrimental to the national interest. This authority has been exercised repeatedly for decades, and has been a component of immigration law since the enactment of the original INA in 1952.

Read it all here and here.

Pro-immigration groups complained about the new safety measures. “The only way to actually fix the Muslim ban is not to have a Muslim ban,” said a statement from the ACLU. “Instead, President Trump has recommitted himself to religious discrimination, and he can expect continued disapproval from both the courts and the people.” </s> Washington (CNN) US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Monday that bans immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, dropping Iraq from January's previous order, and reinstates a temporary blanket ban on all refugees.

The new travel ban comes six weeks after Trump's original executive order caused chaos at airports nationwide before it was blocked by federal courts. It removes out language in the original order that indefinitely banned Syrian refugees and called for prioritizing the admission of refugees who are religious minorities in their home countries. That provision drew criticism of a religious test for entry and would have prioritized Christians over Muslims fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East.

The new ban, which takes effect March 16, also explicitly exempts citizens of the six banned countries who are legal US permanent residents or have valid visas to enter the US -- including those whose visas were revoked during the original implementation of the ban, senior administration officials said.

"We cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly, or when those governments actively support terrorism," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.

The new measures will block citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. The order also suspends admission of refugees into the US for 120 days, directing US officials to improve vetting measures for a program that is already widely regarded as extremely stringent.

Trump signed the executive order earlier Monday in the Oval Office outside the view of reporters and news cameras, after more than three weeks of repeated delays, the latest of which came after White House officials decided last week to delay the signing to avoid cutting into positive coverage of Trump's joint address to Congress.

The delays also came amid an intense lobbying effort from Iraqi government officials, including from the country's prime minister, to remove Iraq from the original seven-state list of banned countries.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Iraq's removal from the list came after an intense review from the State Department to improve vetting of Iraqi citizens in collaboration with the Iraqi government, though he did not specify how vetting had been improved.

"The United States welcomes this kind of close cooperation," he said. "This revised order will bolster the security of the United States and our allies."

The rollout of the revised travel ban marks an important moment for the administration, which has little room for error after the chaotic debut of the original plan. That failure raised questions about the new White House's capacity to govern and to master the political intricacies needed to manage complicated political endeavors in Washington. It also brought Trump into conflict with the judiciary in the first sign of how constitutional checks and balances could challenge his vision of a powerful presidency built on expansive executive authority.

The original order came under intense criticism as an attempt to bar Muslims from entering the country, and Trump's call during the campaign for a "Muslim Ban" was cited in court cases attacking the ban.

The new order does not prioritize religious minorities when considering refugee admissions cases.

Administration officials Monday stressed they do not see the ban as targeting a specific religion.

"(The order is) not any way targeted as a Muslim ban ... we want to make sure everyone understands that," an official told reporters.

"The Department of Justice believes that this executive order just as the first executive order is a lawful and proper exercise of presidential authority," Sessions said.

Democrats responded by calling Trump's order a repeat version of the first attempt.

"Here we go again...Muslim Ban 2.0 #NoBanNoWall" tweeted Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, one of two Muslims serving in the House of Representatives.

Working to contain fallout

The newly crafted order also revealed that the administration wasn't just paying attention to the legal criticism in the courts, but also recalibrating in light of the heavy political fire they faced after the first order's messy rollout.

While administration lawyers argued the original travel ban went into effect immediately to prevent terrorists from rushing into the country, the revised ban will phase in after 10 days. The previous order will be rescinded on that date.

Trump had previously said he opposed giving any advance notice of the ban.

"If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!" he tweeted on January 30

The White House also abandoned the sense of urgency with which it implemented the first travel ban, delaying the signing of a new executive order multiple times over the last three weeks. Politics also came into play as White House officials delayed the signing from last Wednesday in part to allow positive coverage of the President's joint address to Congress to continue uninterrupted.

"We want the (executive order) to have its own 'moment,'" a senior administration official told CNN last week.

The President signed the action Monday morning without the fanfare he has given to other executive orders. No media was present during the signing at the White House, an administration official confirmed. White House spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted a picture of Trump signing the order.

White House officials collaborated for several weeks with officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and kept congressional leaders apprised of their progress this time around after the White House drew a backlash for keeping Congress and relevant federal agencies almost entirely in the dark during the first rollout.

To bolster its national security claims, the new executive order also states FBI has reported that approximately 300 people who entered the United States as refugees are "currently the subjects of counter-terrorism investigations."

"The fact remains that we are not immune to terrorist threats and that our enemies often use our own freedoms and generosity against us," Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said. "We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives."

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, said the ban "has the same fundamental flaws" as the first order.

"We know that country of origin is a poor predictor of a propensity to commit acts of terror. If it were, Pakistan has been a far more problematic source of attack planning and would be at the top of the President's list, but that country merits not even a mention in the order," Schiff said in a statement.

Why Iraq was removed

But the new order was also delayed in part because of a debate within the administration over how to handle Iraq.

Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster had all advocated for Iraq to be removed from the Trump administration's list of banned countries in the new executive order for diplomatic reasons, including Iraq's role in fighting ISIS, sources told CNN's Elise Labott and Evan Perez. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly also supported the move.

Iraq was removed from the revised travel ban executive order after intensive lobbying from the Iraqi government at the highest levels, according to a senior US official.

That included a phone call between Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on February 10 and an in-person conversation between Abadi and Vice President Mike Pence in Munich on February 18.

Those conversations were followed by discussions between Tillerson and members of the Iraqi government about vetting measures in place that would prevent suspected terrorists from leaving Iraq and coming to the United States. Iraq did not implement new measures; rather, the country provided more detail to US officials about how it screens travelers.

In Trump's call with Abadi, the President vowed to seek a resolution to his counterpart's concerns about his citizens' being unable to enter the United States, according to a readout of the phone call from Baghdad. The US official said Trump asked Tillerson to get greater clarity on vetting measures in Iraq.

Trump also faced pressure to remove Iraq from the order from some American national security officials, who argued the restriction burdened a key anti-ISIS partner. Some of those voices were holdovers from the Obama administration.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry welcomed reports of its removal from the list of countries affected by the travel ban.

"(The) Iraqi Foreign Ministry expresses deep relief regarding the executive order that was issued by the American president Donald Trump, which excludes the Iraqis from the travel ban to the United States," said Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ahmad Jamal. "This is considered an important step in the right direction that strengthen and reinforces the strategic alliance between Baghdad and Washington in many fields, in particular the fight against terrorism."

This story is breaking and will be updated.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Kelly's name. </s> WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump signed an order Friday to strengthen the vetting of would-be immigrants or refugees and to keep “radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.”

At a ceremony at the Pentagon to swear in James Mattis as his secretary of defense, Trump signed a decree entitled: “Protection of the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.”

“This is big stuff,” he declared, to polite applause from gathered senior military brass.

The White House did not immediately make the wording of the decree public, but a draft text had been leaked to US media earlier in the week and was widely reported on.

According to this unconfirmed order, Trump’s decree suspends the entire US refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days while tough new vetting rules are established.

In addition, it specifically bars Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.

Meanwhile, no visas will be issued for 30 days to travellers, whether would-be visitors or migrants, from seven mainly-Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Civil liberties groups and many counterterror experts had condemned the measures in advance, arguing that it is inhumane to lump the victims of conflict in with the extremists who threaten them.

But the suspension of the program stops short of a threat Trump made during last year’s race for the White House to halt all Muslim travel to the United States.

Trump’s supporters defend the measures as necessary to prevent supporters of Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group from infiltrating the US homeland disguised as refugees. CBB </s> A top White House official appeared to reverse a key part of President Trump’s order on Sunday, saying that people from the affected countries who hold green cards will not be prevented from returning to the United States.

But the official, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, also said that border agents had “discretionary authority” to detain and question suspicious travelers from certain countries. That statement seemed to add to the uncertainty over how the executive order will be interpreted and enforced in the days ahead.

Part of the president’s order gives preferential treatment to Christians who try to enter the United States from majority-Muslim countries. In a Twitter post on Sunday morning, deplored the killings of Christians in the Middle East without noting the killings of Muslims, who have been killed in vastly greater numbers in Iraq, and elsewhere.

asserted last week that Christians had been “treated horribly” under previous administrations. “If you were a Muslim, you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible,” he said Friday in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.” The president’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen at 4:42 pm Eastern on Friday, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

A series of rulings by federal judges across the country blocked part of the president’s actions, preventing the government from deporting some travelers who found themselves ensnared by the presidential order. But the court decisions largely stopped short of letting them into the country or issuing a broader ruling on the constitutionality of Trump’s actions. Lawyers for those denied entry said on Sunday that there was significant confusion and disagreement among border agents about who was affected by Trump’s order.

In a statement Sunday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said that agents would “continue to enforce all of President Trump’s executive orders,” and that “prohibited travel will remain prohibited.” But it also said that the department “will comply with judicial orders.” The confusion was evident in the handling of those who have valid green cards, making them legal permanent residents of the United States. On Saturday night, the Department of Homeland Security said that Trump’s order did apply to holders who were travelling to the United States from the seven countries affected.
President Trump signs an executive order limiting refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The order also prioritizes the vetting of Christian refugees of the Syrian Civil War.