Executive Order 13769: Travel Ban 1.0

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13769 is entitled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States" and was issued January 27th, 2017.  It has 11 sections.  Subsequently, it has been referenced in EO 13780 and Proclamation 9645.  The Proclamation is effectively Travel Ban 3.0 and will be covered in the blog in the near future.

Section 1

This section describes the purpose of the EO.  This section states that US Citizens need to be protected by preventing others (non-citizens) from being able to enter the US.  This marks a 180 degree turn in the prevailing philosophy towards immigration and the role of the US in the world.  While the campaign foreshadowed these kinds of policies, this (and other policies) were a shock in seeing laid out in black and white rules and regulations stating certain kinds of people were no longer welcome.

Section 2

This section simply states a policy that in order to protect its citizen, certain foreign nationsl will be prevented from being admitted into the US.

Section 3

This section has numerous subsections.  (a) orders a review of what information is required to make a determination that a person from a given country is security or public safety threat.  (b) order a report created based on what is done in (a). (c) suspends entry for 90 days of nationals of certain foreign countries.  These are not named in the EO, but references section 217(a)(12) of the INA.  It was determined that this meant the countries of Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Libya and South Sudan.  In (d), it indicates that whatever information is required to be submitted by foreign governments in the report created in (b), then the Secretary of State is going to ask countries to provide that information.  In (e), after 60 days of the request in (d), then the country will also go onto the black list if the foreign government does not comply with the request for information.

Section 4

This section talks about developing a uniform screen standard across all immigration programs to determine the risks of admitting a person.  In a way, this is probably a good thing to have although I would be surprised that there was any real inconsistency within the agency.  There are supposed to have been reports submitted to the President on how to implement this.  Unfortunately, with the court challenges and other events that had happened, I do not know if these reports were created and whether they were made public.

Section 5

This section firstly suspends entry of refugees for 120 days.  Additionally, it specifically prohibits Syrian refugees and limits the total number of refugees to 50,000 for 2017.  Finally it asks that the Secretary of Homeland Security look into whether local authorities can have input into the settlement process for refugees.  I don't know if this was meant to be able to give local authorities a veto to all, or just some refugees intended to be settled in a particular jurisdiction.

Section 6

This section seems to revoke the ability for certain lower level employees to be able to make case by case determinations.

Section 7

This section mentions that there is a project to capture biometric data on every traveler entering and exiting the USA.  This project is not complete, although personally, I have had to get fingerprinted and photographed every time I arrive by airplane into the US for the last couple of years.  Nonetheless, someone will have to prepare a status report every 180 days and send it to the President until it is fully rolled out.

Section 8

This section revokes waiving Visa Interviews.  For example, for Canadians, very often Visa interviews are waived.  And this make sense, but now this will insert an extra step for Canadians seeking any kind of Visa for entry into the US.

Section 9

This section directs the Secretary of State to review what other country's requirements for US Citizens to enter into them and compare it with what the US does.  If the other country imposes bigger controls, then the US shall adjust the controls for admittance to be similar.

Section 10

This section details additional reports that need to be provided.  These reports are advertising or marketing information that is intended to justify why the travel ban should be imposed.

Section 11

This section includes the usual legal fine print to assure the constitutionality of the EO.

My commentary

This was the original Travel or Muslim ban which, when there were huge protests against it and when it ruled unlawful and unconstitutional, it surprised the administration because they had been living in this bubble where everyone thought that keeping people out of the USA was a good thing.  The politics of inclusion would never allow such actions to be taken.  There are a number of accounts of events that happened after the announcement of the ban including protests at airports and emergency hearings at circuit courts which finally resulted in striking down some number of sections of this EO.  This resulted in the second travel ban which ultimately was also partially struck down until finally the third travel ban was created which I believe had been watered down a sufficient extent that people could no longer find constitutionality issues with it, but as well, it also lost a lot of its ability to actually stop people coming to the US.
Overall, this EO is heinous and it is clear that principles that produced such a document are anchored in paranoia about the world and fear of the "other".  Immigration can cause problems, but one has to believe that the benefits in the long term outweigh short term problems which could be solved with relative ease, if one simply listens attentively.