On Monday, March 6, the Trump administration announced a new travel ban [1] barring all refugees and travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days. The news comes after Trump's first controversial travel ban [2] was blocked by a federal court in February [3].
.@POTUS [4] has signed a new executive order that will keep the nation safe. Read it at https://t.co/XcBwwEJJHF [5] pic.twitter.com/Yx2mikXl2A [6]
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) March 6, 2017 [7]
What are the key differences between this new one and the last? Here's a breakdown:
- The order bans travel for 90 days for visitors from six countries instead of seven — Iraq is no longer on the list [8], but it still includes Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Homeland Security officials issued a statement about this change, writing, "On the basis of negotiations that have taken place between the government of Iraq and the U.S. Department of State in the last month, Iraq will increase cooperation with the U.S. government on the vetting of its citizens applying for a visa to travel to the United States."
- Syrian refugees will now face a 120-day ban instead of an indefinite ban.
- The ban will not affect green card holders or legal permanent residents. This was an issue that came up in legal challenges to the original ban.
- No current visa holders will be denied. Under the last ban, the State Department revoked at least 60,000 visas [9] of people coming from the seven countries, according to CNN.
- The new order excludes an exception for "religious minorities" that was included in the original ban, which many believed implied a preference for Christians over Muslims and signaled religious discrimination.
- The ban goes into effect on March 16, which gives 10-day notice. The first one went into effect immediately without much direction, leaving government departments, airports, and officials scrambling over how to implement it.
Read more about the ban here [10].