Executive Order 13780: Revised Travel Ban

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13780 is entitled "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States" and was issued on March 6th, 2017.  This was the revised version of the original travel ban (which was EO 13769) but was still challenged in courts leading up finally to a Supreme Court ruling which allowed it to go into effect with some conditions being applied.  Also of note is the issuance of a memo on June 14th, 2017 which adjusted the dates of when things are to go into effect.  Finally, it should be noted that at the time of this writing, the whole thing is moot since the time periods have expired, the supreme court case will likely never be heard and there has been another executive order that has been issued with regards to restrictions on entry into the USA of certain foreign nationals.

Section 1

Subsection (a) defines the policy which is that the vetting procedures associated with the USRAP need to be improved.  Subsections (b) and (c) give us a history lesson or legal brief (take your pick) on the events surrounding EO 13769.  Subsection (d) makes a really strange argument that people should not be admitted into the US because sometimes its hard to remove/deport them.  Tell that to illegal aliens.  Subsections (e) and (f) make a case that nationals from 6 particular countries "present heightened risks".  These countries are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  You will note that Iraq was removed from the list which should prompt people to ask, what has changed?  To which the answer is: it looked really bad for the administration to prevent Iraqi's from travelling to the USA.  Subsection (g) presents the "special case" of Iraq.  Subsection (h) provides factoid type statistics and anecdotal evidence of bad people who have entered to USA as refugees.  But frankly the examples given (and you have to assume they picked the ones that best supported their argument) actually undermine the reasons stated.  One of the examples is regarding Iraqi's and yet, Iraq is given special treatment.  The other example is of someone who went through the naturalization process and was still yet radicalized.  Finally, in subsection (i), it is declared that EO 13769 is revoked and this EO takes its place.

Section 2

Subsection (a) directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine what additional information is required to properly vet nationals of all countries prior to issuance of a visa allowing them entry into the USA.  Subsection (b) states that a report on subsection (a) needs to be issued within 20 days of the EO. Subsection (c) suspends entry of nationals of the listed 6 countries for 90 days.  Subsection (d) directs the Secretary of State to demand foreign governments to provide additional information based on the report from subsection (b).  After 50 days from (d), in subsection (e) an amended list of countries shall be submitted by the Secretary of Homeland Security to the President who will then take further action.  At any future time, according to (f), countries can be moved in or out of the list.  In subsection (g), there are regular monthly reports that need to be provided to the President.

Section 3

This section define who is no longer able to enter the US.  Subsection (c) defines a number of reasons for which Customs and Border Protection may issue a waiver and allow someone into the US.  Specifically, a number of these were situations that happened when the first ban went into place and it played very sympathetically in the news.

Section 4

This section defines some additional requirements for Iraqi citizens.  Basically, it requires a review to assure that the person trying to enter the USA is not a terrorist.

Section 5

This section directs certain cabinet members to implement a program to detect terrorists and other people who are trying to enter into the USA fraudulently.  There are reports to be submitted to the President at regular intervals regarding the progress of the program.  First, I have to ask, aren't we doing this already?  And second, I have to ask if someone is also thinking that they would be able to tighten restrictions on Mexicans using this as well.

Section 6

This section suspend the USRAP program for 120 days.  Further it reduces the number of refugees to be admitted to be only 50,000 for fiscal year 2017.  However, it is possible to allow entry of refugees on a case by case basis so long as it is in the national interest.

Section 7

This section deals with 8 USC 1182(d)(3)(B) and I have not looked it up.  I suspect that this clause might relate to a situation where someone comes up in the database as a terrorist and now that person will never be allowed into the US whereas before case by case exceptions could be made.

Section 8

This section calls for expediting the implementation of the Biometric Entry-Exit Tracking System and reports as to why its not finished yet to be submitted regularly until its done.

Section 9

This section calls for the suspension of the Visa Interview Waiver Program.  This kind of bureaucracy is what will really slow down the number of aliens seeking to come to the US.  If you are not a citizen of a country that does not require a visa to come to the US, it will now be really grueling and a long wait to get one.  Subsection (b) does call for beefing up the staff in order to mitigate against the number of interviews that will now have to be performed.  Unfortunately, the Department of State's budget is being substantially cut in the recent budget discussions.

Section 10

This section calls for changing the rules for citizens of foreign countries to match what those countries apply to US citizens.

Section 11

This section defines a publicity campaign to try and justify the implementation of the measures described in this EO.  These "reports" are supposed to be issued semiannually.  It would be interesting to see how far the writers go on stretching definitions to make the numbers look good.

Section 12

This section, while being entitled "Enforcement", outlines a number of exceptions for who is exempt from EO.

Section 13

This section repeats the statement that EO 13769 is revoked.

Section 14

This section defines as of when the EO is effective.

Section 15

This section invokes severability, meaning that while certain sections may be struck down, it does not affect the validity of the sections that were not struck down.

Section 16

This section includes the necessary legal fine print to ensure that the EO is constitutional.

My Commentary

Despite everything that has happened, I do not think that there is a clear link between immigrants and terrorism.  That is not to say that there are not people who are coming to the USA with the intent to do harm to citizens and residents.  Looking back, this EO was a clear statement on the level of xenophobia that this administration has.