The Trump administration will begin imposing an expanded new travel ban for travelers from 19 countries on Monday.
The U.S President Trump unveiled the new policy last week, banning all tourists from a dozen nations and partially restricting those from another seven.
According to administration officials, the limitations are necessary to boost national security by focusing on nations with linkages to terrorism, insufficient passport verification, and a high rate of citizens who overstay their US visas.
Trump’s most recent move, however, may be more difficult to challenge in court. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court upheld a third adjustment to the ban.
Legal experts say the Trump administration used lessons from Trump’s first term to draft the new order in a way that makes it less likely to be stopped.
The White House stated that the limits make exceptions for legal permanent residents, refugees currently in the country, current visa holders, and individuals whose entry supports US national interests.
Unlike in 2017, the administration gave prospective visitors and foreign governments several days’ notice before the restrictions went into effect, allowing them to prepare for the changes.
Trump’s order fully restricts the entry of individuals from Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also partially restricts the entry of travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Democrats and at least one Republican — Rep. Michael Lawler of New York — have denounced the ban as inhumane and unnecessary.
Lawler, whose district includes the Hudson Valley, with a large population of Haitian immigrants, said that country was experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis because of widespread violence. He called on the administration to remove Haiti from the list.
The effort to significantly curtail travelers from 19 countries comes as the Trump administration has pursued extraordinary measures to curtail illegal and legal immigration, including efforts to enact mass deportations, ban birthright citizenship, suspend refugee admissions and scrap due process rights for alleged gang members from Venezuela.
