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> 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 is questioning the legitimacy of the federal judge who blocked Trump’s executive order banning refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Tweeting in response to the block, Trump insisted that, “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” The bona fide judge drawing the president’s ridicule is Federal District Court judge James Robart in Washington State, an appointee of President George W. Bush who was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. On Friday, Robart temporarily blocked Trump’s week-old executive order from being enforced on a nationwide scale, reinstating the more than 60,000 visas of previously barred travelers and leading U.S. Customs and Border Protection to instruct airlines to being allowing those passengers onto flights to the U.S. The White House quickly promised to request an emergency stay on the “outrageous” order, but the affected travelers will be totally free to enter the U.S. in the meantime.

The judge’s order immediately suspended both the 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, as well as the 120-day ban on refugees. Those bans will resume should the White House win an emergency stay on the order, but on Saturday morning the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it was complying with the ruling and had “suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections” of Trump’s executive order. Meanwhile, airlines have been announcing that any passenger with a valid U.S. visa will be allowed to board planes to America, though it’s not clear how many people will take advantage of the opportunity to do so, particularly since the ban could be reinstated at any time.

In issuing the nationwide injunction against Trump’s order, Judge Robart argued that there was “no support” for the Trump administration’s argument that the government has to protect the country from citizens of the seven listed countries. In Robart’s opinion, the attorneys general of Washington and Minnesota, who had filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the travel ban, had “met their burden of demonstrating that they face immediate and irreparable injury as a result of the signing and implementation of the Executive Order” since the order “adversely affects the states’ residents in the areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel.”

“The States themselves are harmed by virtue of the damage that implementation of the Executive Order has inflicted on the operations and missions of their public universities and other institutions of higher learning, as well as injury to the States’ operations, tax bases and public funds,” Robart added. Politico reports that the order “appears modeled on litigation conservative states used to halt President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration,” in that those states argued that they have standing to challenge federal actions that affect them financially.

In another tweet sent by the president on Saturday morning, he implied that allowing “certain people” from Middle Eastern countries would lead to “death and destruction.” In addition to banning refugees, and especially Syrian refugees, Trump’s executive order had also stipulated that the U.S. give preferential treatment to persecuted religious minorities when admitting refugees in the future, which he has indicated as meaning Christians in majority-Muslim countries. That priority classification for religious minorities was also blocked by Robart’s ruling.



This post has been updated throughout to reflect newly available information. </s> On Friday, Tehran said it would deny visas to US wrestlers heading to the World Cup set to take place on February 16-17 in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's executive order restricting immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

"Following the court ruling suspending #MuslimBan & the requests from the Iranian Wrestling Federation & FILA [currently United World Wrestling], US Wrestlers' visa will be granted," Zarif wrote on his Twitter.

​On Friday night, US District Judge James Robart in Seattle ordered a temporary nationwide halt to the entry ban, which has since been appealed by the US federal government. At the moment, the ban holds and several airlines have announced that they would fly passengers who were barred from entering the United States under the executive order.

Trump's executive order, signed on January 27, also blocked refugees from coming in the United States for 120 days and indefinitely suspended the entry of Syrian refugees. </s> President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Monday that temporarily blocks citizens from six majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S., revoking and replacing an earlier order which was stalled in federal court after a nationwide stay was issued last month.

While there are marked differences between the two orders, Massachusetts lawyers and advocates say the intent is clearly the same.

Susan Church heads the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She says the group is not anticipating the same level of widespread chaos as was the case in late January when Trump's original order went into effect — as hundreds of travelers were detained for hours in U.S. airports or turned away from flights headed here. Still, the group is not taking any chances and has lined up nearly 100 immigration lawyers who are willing to volunteer at Logan Airport if need be.

"We will be available ... to help them, assist their family members who are stuck in processing, and we will be available maybe to go to court again if necessary," Church said.

The new order removes Iraq from the list of countries whose citizens will be temporarily barred entry into the U.S. Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen remain on the list. The revised order also explicitly states that visa and green card holders from these countries are exempt from the restrictions, allowing for their entry into the country — a point that was at issue in a Boston federal court case following the first order. The new order also suspends the country's refugee program for 120 days, but it does not single out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban.

The order will go into effect on March 16 — nearly two weeks after it was signed. This is a stark departure from the previous order which went into effect immediately. Church says this delay contradicts the sense of urgency expressed by the administration.

"They're telling us this is an emergency yet they delayed implementation of this new ban by two weeks almost, they said that they need more time to investigate the security concerns," she said. "So there's no way to say that in the 90 days or the 120 days everything is going to be fixed, because it's not. This is really an effort to grab headlines by this administration more than it's an effort to really address the security concerns of the United States."

But that's not how Jessica Vaughan sees it.

Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that supports limiting immigration. She says the revised order is more focused and compelling in explaining the need for a review of security measures. Vaughan also says she wouldn't rule out additional travel restrictions in the future.

"I would not be surprised if the government finds there's no way to improve the vetting from some of these countries," she said. "Perhaps Syria, because there have been so many counter-terrorism and homeland security officials who have been saying for so long that it is impossible because of the lack of a functioning government there ... We may end up having to extend a suspension of travel or a suspension of visa issuances for certain countries depending on what they find."

The initial 120-day closure of the refugee admission program is of special concern to Jeff Thielman, CEO of the International Institute of New England. The resettlement agency has offices in Boston, Lowell and Manchester, New Hampshire. Thielman says this new executive order is no more necessary than the previous order.

"This is pretty significant if you're a refugee family that's been waiting their turn to come to the United States for several years and you've done everything right to go through the U.S. resettlement process," he said. "You're in some place and you've been stranded there for years and we've said, 'If you go through this process, you can come here.' A few more months, four months, for people can be a long time."

Thielman's agency is scheduled to resettle eight refugees through March 16, the day Trump's new order goes into effect. That includes one person who's slated to arrive on the 16th. He says they're trying to determine what sort of ramifications the new executive order will have.

Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday afternoon that he's not yet read the president's executive order in full but maintains that Massachusetts is a welcoming state.

"A huge part of our success as a commonwealth — culturally, economically and just generally — is based on the fact that we got a lot of people in this country who bring points of view and perspectives from around the world to their work and to their communities, and that's a big part of who we are and what we're about," he told WBUR.

Attorney General Maura Healey says her office is considering legal options and "remains opposed to this misguided policy." </s> 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> A federal judge in New York has issued an emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly issued the order Saturday evening after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people who were detained at airports across the country as the ban took effect.

Cheers broke out in a crowd of demonstrators outside a Brooklyn courthouse as the decision, effective nationwide, was announced.

The order barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

It also covered anyone with an approved refugee application.

It was unclear how quickly the order might affect people in detention.

Click here for the complete story from WHYY Newsworks </s> The U.S. State Department says fewer than 60,000 visas have been revoked as a result of President Trump's Jan. 27 executive order barring refugees from seven countries.

That number is considerably lower than the number given by a Justice Department attorney, who said today in federal court in Virginia that 100,000 visas were revoked as a result of the order, as Carmel Delshad of member station WAMU reported.

Both numbers are considerably higher than the figure provided by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week. Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told reporters on Tuesday that 721 people with visas had not been allowed to board airplanes to the U.S. in the first 72 hours after the order went into effect. An additional 1,135 people with visas were granted waivers to enter the country, he said.

The 100,000 figure came out during a hearing for two lawful permanent residents from Yemen who filed a lawsuit after arriving at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The two men allege they were detained and coerced into giving up their immigrant visas before being put on a return flight to Ethiopia, Delshad reported.

"U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that it was clear to her the temporary travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries went into effect too quickly, and not a lot of thought went into it," and issued a seven-day extension of a temporary order barring the deportation of green card holders from Dulles Airport, Delshad reported.

The executive order bans people from traveling to the U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for three months, suspends new-refugee admissions for 120 days and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.

New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Minnesota and Washington state have all sued the federal government over the order. Eric Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general, described the order signed last Friday as "unconstitutional, unlawful, and fundamentally un-America," reported The Guardian. </s> A second United States appeals court on Monday ruled against President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority countries, largely upholding a lower court’s decision.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reviewed a March ruling by a Hawaii-based federal judge that blocked parts of Trump’s order.

The ruling came after a separate court, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on May 25 upheld a Maryland judge’s ruling blocking parts of the order.

The Trump administration on June 1 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the Hawaii and Richmond rulings and revive the ban.

Hawaii Federal Judge Derrick Watson blocked a March 6 executive order barring travellers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the government put in place stricter visa screening.

Watson also blocked a directive that suspended the entry of refugee applicants for 120 days, as well as other instructions for the government to study tougher vetting procedures.

The 9th Circuit on Monday upheld the block on Trump’s travel ban and a cap on refugees. However, the appeals court vacated part of the injunction in order to allow the government to conduct internal reviews on vetting.
Travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen are blocked from entering the United States as the executive order takes effect.