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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - March 6, 2017
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This is the March 6, 2017, edition of an email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition, cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
Revised executive order on immigration
Original order
On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13769, “Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States,” which had sweeping implications for immigration policies. On February 3, Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court of Western Washington blocked key portions of the order after a lawsuit was filed by the state of Washington (later joined by the state of Minnesota).
Here are the items that were blocked by the court in February:
- The 90-day suspension of travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen).
- The 120-day suspension of all refugee admission
- The prioritization of what the order describes as “refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality.”
- Indefinite suspension of refugee admissions from Syria
- Granting the secretaries of state and homeland security the power to admit refugees on a case-by-case basis “so long as they determine that the admission of such individuals as refugees is in the national interest -- including when the person is a religious minority in his country of nationality facing religious persecution,” according to the order.
Judge Robart’s temporary restraining order found that the states of Washington and Minnesota would face immediate and irreparable injury because of the executive order. Robart’s temporary restraining order stated: “The Executive Order adversely affects the States’ residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations, and freedom to travel. … In addition, the States themselves are harmed by virtue of the damage that implementation of the Executive Order has inflicted upon the operations and missions of their public universities and other institutions of higher learning, as well as injury to the States’ operations, tax bases, and public funds.”
Today’s order
Today, Trump signed a new executive order aimed at immigration and refugee admissions. The new order also revoked the previous one. At a press conference in February, Trump explained that the revised order would be tailored to address the court’s decision. The new order also contains a more detailed background and justification for the policy, claiming, “Recent history shows that some of those who have entered the United States through our immigration system have proved to be threats to our national security.”
Here are the notable details in the revised version:
- The ban will go into effect March 16, 2017.
- The order establishes a 90-day suspension of issuing new visas to people from six Muslim-majority countries (Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen). Iraq is no longer on the list because of newer vetting guidelines the country established earlier this year, according to Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway.
- The order also suspends all refugee resettlement into the United States for 120 days. The previous order’s indefinite suspension of Syrian refugee resettlement is not included in the new order. Total refugee resettlement is capped at 50,000 refugees in one year (down from the Obama administration’s cap of 110,000).
- Language giving preference to religious minorities is also absent.
- Travelers with valid visas at the time of the executive order’s signing are not subject to the travel ban. Legal permanent residents and dual nationals are also not subject to the ban. In the original order, this was not clarified.
Some reactions
- The ACLU—one of the main challengers of the previous order—issued a statement on the revised order, saying, “The Trump administration has conceded that its original Muslim ban was indefensible. Unfortunately, it has replaced it with a scaled-back version that shares the same fatal flaws. The only way to actually fix the Muslim ban is not to have a Muslim ban.”
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered prepared remarks on the order, saying, “The Department of Justice believes that this executive order, just as the first, is a lawful and proper exercise of presidential authority. This Department of Justice will defend and enforce lawful orders of the President consistent with core principles of our Constitution. The executive is empowered under the Constitution and by Congress to make national security judgments and to enforce our immigration policies in order to safeguard the American public.”
Russia investigation update
Rod Rosenstein, who is nominated to be the next deputy attorney general, has his confirmation hearing tomorrow. With Attorney General Sessions recusing himself from the investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Rosenstein would lead any investigations involving Russia and the 2016 presidential election.
For more detail on the investigations, see last Friday’s edition here.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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