Trump’s new travel ban targets same 7 Muslim-majority countries

United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a media conference in Brussels on Monday. (AP)

WASHINGTON/STOCKHOLM: A draft of President Donald Trump’s revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they have not used it yet.
A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.
The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out — and reject — Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it is made public. The official noted that the draft is subject to change ahead of its signing, which Trump said could come sometime this week.
Asked about the revised order, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the document circulating was a draft and that a final version should be released soon. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that the current draft of the revised order focused on the seven countries but excluded those with green cards.
Trump’s original executive order triggered chaos at airports around the world, as travelers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green-card holders among them. Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order’s implementation spread. In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of those seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
The original order also called for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that can not or would not make the information available. It said the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States.
Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the US from all countries is likely to slow significantly. That’s because even when the courts put Trump’s original ban on hold, they left untouched Trump’s 50,000-per-year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration.
The US has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump’s cap, according to a US official. That means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration’s cap of 110,000.
A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen.
Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten US borders sharply for national security reasons, told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants.
“You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden,” Trump said. “Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
No incident occurred in Sweden and the country’s baffled government asked the US State Department to explain.
“My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden,” Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.
Fox News, a US channel that has been cited favorably by Trump, ran a report on Friday about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country.
In Brussels, US Vice President Mike Pence assured the European Union (EU) in Brussels on Monday that the Trump administration will develop their cooperation in trade and security and backs the EU as a partner in its own right.
A month after Donald Trump caused alarm by renewing his endorsement of Brexit and suggesting others may follow Britain out of the EU, Pence told reporters that he had come to “the home of the European Union” with a message from the president.
Speaking of a “strong commitment ... to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union,” Pence added: “Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”