Donald Trump has signed a revised executive order to reinstate a ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
The new travel ban blocks entry to the US for citizens from six of the seven countries named in Trump’s original order. People from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya will face a 90-day suspension of visa processing. But Iraq will be removed from the list of countries affected after concerns from the national security community about the country’s role in fighting alongside US forces.
The move comes after a federal judge blocked the original ban and a federal appeals court upheld that ruling, denying the justice department’s request to reinstate it.
The order will not come into effect until March 16 in contrast to the first order which was implemented immediately. It’s believed that Trump removed Iraq from the second order due to the close relationship between the United States and Iraqi governments and “Iraq’s commitment to combat ISIS.”
“This is not a Muslim ban in any way, shape, or form,” an official told reporters. “There are dozens and hundreds of millions, if not 1-point something billion, Muslims who are not subject to this executive order.”
However, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, said the executive order, like the last order, is at its core a Muslim ban, which is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
CAIR National Litigation Director Lena F. Masri, said: “As Trump administration officials have stated, this ‘Muslim Ban 2.0’ – which has been debunked by the Department of Homeland Security – appears to be merely a re-tooled order aimed at the same long-stated goal of banning Muslims from entering the United States.”
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