The new Executive Order signed by President Trump on March 6, 2017 was scheduled to be effective as of 12:01 am on March 16, 2017 and should have caused the US Department of State to reevaluate the current screening procedures in order to increase national security.

In the evening of March 15, 2017, a federal judge in Hawaii issued an injunction on said Order, which would have temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to foreign nationals from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen located outside of the US and not in the possession of a valid visa on January 27, 2017 by 5 pm EST.

These foreign citizens from mainly Muslim countries would then not have been eligible to enter the United States while the temporary suspension remained in effect. Any individual who believed to be eligible for a waiver or exemption could still have applied for a visa but should have disclosed in the visa interview any reasons for why he or she should be exempt from the Order. Whether or not an exemption would have been  made was to be determined by the consular officer in charge after a careful review of all relevant facts. Current visas, however, would not have been revoked soley based on this Executive Order. 

U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson had imposed his injunction arguing “that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion” and that, if filed suit against, it would “with strong likelihood” be proven to violate the Constitution.

Only six weeks earlier, Trump’s original order had caused chaos in airports nationwide before federal courts decided to block it. It was heavily criticized as an attempt to bar Muslims from entering the United States. This time, administration officials stressed that the new ban was in no way meant to be a Muslim ban and does not target a specific religion. Democrats, however, consider the new Executive Order to be a repeat version of his first attempt.

Best regards
und viele Grüße aus Charlotte
Reinhard von Hennigs
www.bridgehouse.law