Photo Credit Reuters
By Gary Leff
Three years ago, shortly after President Trump entered office, he issued an executive order that, among other things, banned visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — even for those who have been living in the U.S. in valid employment or student status but who need new visas for re-entry. It was the subject of much litigation, aimed largely at the motivations behind the so-called ‘Muslim ban’.
The Supreme Court upheld much of the legality of what the administration had done.However it also had perverse and unintended consequences such as denying entry to the United States to an Iraqi escaping death threats after working for years for the US military, keeping out an Iranian tech worker living in Canada who was supposed to come to the US to join a startup incubator, and preventing a professional basketball player with dual citizenship from playing games in Canada.
Oddly it froze visa issuance to people from countries that have not supplied a single terrorist to the US (but not from countries that have).
Now the Trump administration is considering an expanded travel ban that targets additional countries. There’s a leaked document that lays this out, however the specific new countries to be added to the list are blacked out on it. Currently the President’s executive order on immigration applies to Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea. As a first stab it probably includes Iraq, Sudan, and Chad since those were a part of an earlier ban three years ago but subsequently removed from the list. Although this is speculative and it’s unknown what countries may be targeted.
Source: View from the Wing