Trump's latest executive order: Banning people from 7 countries and more
Story highlights
- Many of the provisions in the order are consistent with Trump's campaign pledges
- Here's a breakdown of what the executive order does
Washington (CNN)With
just a few quick strokes of the pen, President Donald Trump on Friday
banned -- temporarily, for now -- roughly 218 million people from
entering the United States.
Trump
barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US
for at least the next 90 days by executive order, which a senior White
House official said later Friday is likely just a first step toward
establishing a broader ban.
It's
unclear how many more countries will be added to the list, but the
official said the administration will be "very aggressive" as it weighs
how many more countries to add to the list.
Asked
what criteria the administration will consider as it looks to expand
the ban beyond the initial seven countries, the official said simply the
"mandate is to keep America safe."
"Not going to take any risks," the official added.
That's
just one part of the controversial executive order Trump signed Friday
dubbed: "Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the
United States." Many of the provisions in the order are consistent with
Trump's campaign pledges.
Here's a breakdown of what the executive order does.
Bans citizens of 7 countries
Trump banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for at least the next 90 days.
The
executive order bars all people hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya,
Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- or at least 218 million people, based on
2015 data published by the World Bank -- from entering the United
States. Those countries were named in a 2016 law concerning immigration
visas as "countries of concern."
But the executive order also makes clear those seven countries are just a starting point for a likely broader ban.
The order exempts diplomats and members of international organizations from the ban.
Orders review of countries to be added to the ban
The
order also directs the secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a
30-day review to determine which countries do not provide "adequate
information" for its citizens to be issued visas to enter the US.
During
the campaign, Trump talked about these countries as "terror-prone"
countries. During the GOP primary campaign, he called for banning all
Muslims from the US -- a statement he never retracted -- before shifting
toward calling for banning individuals from countries with terrorist
links, though he never specified the countries.
Suspends the US refugee program
Trump also stopped the admission of all refugees to the United States for four months.
During
that time, Trump's secretary of state will review the application and
screening process for refugees to be admitted to the US. The process is
already highly rigorous and often takes successful refugee applicants at
least two years to be admitted into the United States, but Trump has
argued the program could still be exploited by terrorists.
Trump
also more than halved the number of refugees who could eventually be
admitted in 2017 to 50,000 from the 110,000 cap established under former
President Barack Obama.
Trump also
states in the order that refugees should be prioritized for entry on
the basis of religious persecution, "provided that the religion of the
individual is a minority religion." That would open the door for
Christian refugees from Muslim-majority countries to be accepted in the
US while Muslims fleeing those countries would be excluded.
Bans Syrian refugees
"I
hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is
detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any
such entry," Trump declared in Friday's executive order.
While
Trump during his campaign called for banning Syrian refugees from the
US -- decrying their entry as a potential "Trojan horse" -- he also
called for establishing a safe zone in Syria where Syrians fleeing the
war-ravaged country could live peacefully. Trump made no mention of that
plan in Friday's executive order, even though a draft of the executive
order circulating in recent days called for beginning to plan for
creating such zones.
Calls for new immigration screening procedures
The
executive order also calls for the secretaries of state and homeland
security, the director of national intelligence and the FBI director to
develop and implement new immigration screening procedures.
The ban and its impact
- 134 million banned from US
- What the ban says: The full text
- What to know about the restrictions
- Legal battle begins
- The ban's Christian focus
- A family's plight just got more complicated
- Bergen: Trump's big mistake
- All of Trump's executive orders, memos and proclamations
- Comparing Trump to previous presidents
Trump
during his campaign called for developing new "extreme vetting"
screening procedures that would weed out potential terrorists from visa
applicants by asking questions about their views on the US and ensuring
that individuals support the US's pluralistic values.
"In
order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those
admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its
founding principles," Trump states in the opening section of the
executive order.
"The United States
cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the
Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American
law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage
in acts of bigotry or hatred...or those who would oppress Americans of
any race, gender, or sexual orientation."
Correction:
The combined population of the seven countries named in the executive
order -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- is
roughly 218 million, according to 2015 data published by the World Bank.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly used a lower figure.
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