Trump's immigration order explained
Last Friday, President Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee resettlement and entry into the U.S. of people from several countries. The move prompted protests, court cases and more. Here’s what we know about the order, who it may impact and more.
The scope
Trump suspended all refugee resettlement into the U.S for four months and refugee resettlement from Syria indefinitely. He also suspended for three months entry by citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — on immigrant or non-immigrant visas, including apparently people holding dual citizenship with other nations.
The reason
Trump said the suspensions are needed to protect the nation from potential terrorists he believes could sneak into the U.S. while he and his national security team determine how best to strengthen vetting procedures.
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Who is affected
As initially written, the order covered everyone with a visa who was from those specific countries — including permanent legal residents or “green card” holders who already had permission to be in the U.S., meaning if they left and tried to come back, they would be prohibited. Homeland Security has since said it will allow those people to come back in, absent any terrorism-related reason not to do so. But it still suspends the ability of many others — including students, non-permanent workers, professional employees, businesspeople, entertainers and athletes — to enter the U.S., or for those already here to leave and return, though they could be allowed in on a “case-by-case” basis by border officials. The only visas sure to be allowed in are those for people with diplomatic clearance. Meanwhile, Trump also cut the number of refugees to be allowed into the U.S. this year from 110,000 to 50,000, meaning if and when the suspension is lifted on refugees, fewer will be resettled — and no Syrians, with a civil war there still raging.
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Is it a 'Muslim ban'?
Not on its face: The order doesn’t mention the word Muslims. Read from a legal perspective, it suspends either entire programs (the refugee resettlement program) or entry from certain countries. But it also says that once refugee resettlement begins again, officials can prioritize the claims of refugees persecuted for their religious beliefs, “provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.” All of the countries targeted are majority Muslim. Nothing in the order, however, specifically bans allowing Muslims in after the suspension is lifted. It does, however, call for a process by which only people who “support the Constitution” are allowed in, raising questions about whether even travelers, businesspeople, students, au pairs, and others will have to meet some kind of test to enter the U.S. for even limited periods of time.
Is it legal?
To be decided. There seems little question that the president can suspend refugee resettlement and non-immigrants indefinitely on his own, but immigration may be a bit trickier. Congress has said in the past that nationality cannot be used as a means to decide who gets to immigrate. On the other hand, U.S. law permits the president to “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants” if he deems them “detrimental to the interests of the country.” So it could be a matter to be left up to the courts. So, too, could questions about whether this particular order amounts to a religious preference. The First Amendment prohibits Congress from doing that, and even though this is an executive order, it’s still Congress’ job to set uniform rules for naturalization of citizens — and pass appropriations bills paying for the processes Trump wants to set up — which could potentially raise some thorny legal issues. The Trump administration believes it’s on solid legal ground and on Monday night replaced Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who had said she wasn't sure the order was lawful and wouldn't defend it in court. The ban ran into at least a temporary roadblock Saturday night, after a U.S. District judge in Brooklyn granted an emergency stay sought by immigrants’ rights lawyers.
Why these countries?
In settling on these countries, the Trump administration used the countries already targeted for extra scrutiny and not allowed to receive visa waivers to visit the U.S. Those countries were included in legislation passed by Congress and ultimately signed by former President Obama, though those prohibitions were far less broad than Trump’s. Some have argued that other countries -- Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, for instance -- should also be included, but Trump hasn’t precluded the idea of adding any country that doesn’t live up to the rules his security advisers eventually propose.
Didn't Obama do something similar?
Trump himself has argued that Obama enacted a substantially similar policy in 2011 when he prohibited Iraqi nationals from coming into the U.S. for six months. But as Factcheck.org has explained, Obama’s delay was tied to a specific threat involving refugees living in Kentucky whose fingerprints were found on a detonation device in Iraq, resulting in tens of thousands of refugees in the U.S. — and more who hadn’t yet entered the U.S. — to be rescreened and the screening process to be strengthened. Trump’s policy, however, hasn’t been tied to any specific threat and the Obama administration had maintained for more than a year that its vetting was strong enough to protect the nation.
Follow Todd Spangler on Twitter: @tsspangler
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