Immigration Reform News 2017: Trump Administration Issues Third Travel Ban
The Trump Administration has issued another travel ban; its third since Donald Trump's inauguration. Legal experts see the set of new restrictions as having a better chance to pass scrutiny by courts.
The previous travel ban expired on Sunday, Sep. 24, and Donald Trump is prepared this time with another new proclamation. The new ban restricts travel from more countries than before, and now includes Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, as listed off by Reuters.
Even more countries are partly included in the list, as it places travelers from Iraq under "additional scrutiny," according to The Guardian. Select government officials from Venezuela are also barred from entering the country — a move that did not sit well with the South American state which called the new ban "political terrorism."
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"It is worth pointing out that these types of lists are incompatible with international law, and constitute a form of psychological and political terrorism," the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela said in a statement.
"Our people are being sanctioned because of their pacifist nature as well as their tolerance and respect for different religions and beliefs," the statement continued.
This time around, the North African country of Sudan is not included in the new travel ban. The state has been in the first two lists, but restrictions on travel to the U.S. from the country has now been lifted.
The proclamation only vaguely hinted at "positive results" in certain countries as determined by the Department of Homeland Security, as a possible reason. It could be the result of the Sudanese government providing information to the Trump administration under the new guidelines, as a White House official said.
The new proclamation is built to stand in court, legal experts said. The language of the new ban could be less easily tied to Trump's rhetoric during his campaign, as Saikrishna Prakash of the University of Virginia School of Law noted.
"It looks less like a matter of prejudice or a desire to fulfill a campaign promise," the law professor commented. Refugee-oriented organizations disagree, however.
"This is still a Muslim ban. They simply added three additional countries," Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said in a statement.
