Travel ban will reportedly be replaced with more targeted restrictions, may impact SCOTUS case
President Donald Trump/Shutterstock.com.
President Donald Trump's travel ban is set to be replaced—possibly as soon as this weekend—but he must still approve the plan, according to published reports.
The new restrictions will be more targeted, but will affect people traveling from more than the six countries targeted in the current ban, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The New York Times followed with its own story. Both articles are based on anonymous sources.
The new plan was devised as a result of a 90-day policy review called for in the original travel ban. The Department of Homeland Security first determined that 17 nations didn’t comply with U.S. standards to reduce threats by travelers, according to the Journal. Those standards require countries to inform the United States about known terrorists, for example, and to issue reliable passports.
About half of those 17 countries made changes to comply. People in the remaining countries will face restrictions on U.S. travel that vary based on the country and other factors. People from some of the countries could be banned from travel here, while others may be subjected to additional scrutiny during the visa process, according to the Times.
The current ban prevents travel to the United States by people from six Muslim-majority countries, though the U.S. Supreme Court said the ban can’t be enforced against those with a bona fide relationship to a person or entity here. The six countries are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The ban on travel from the six countries was in effect for 90 days and expires Sunday. The current policy also imposed a 120-day ban on refugees.
According to the Times, the new plan “could have a profound impact” on a pending Supreme Court case challenging the travel ban. The changes are “complicating the review by the justices and potentially making parts of the case moot even before the oral arguments, which are scheduled for Oct. 10,” the article says.
