Here is what Trump's new travel ban is expected to look like
The Trump administration is expected to issue a new travel ban restricting travel from certain countries soon, administration officials told reporters on a conference call Friday, with the existing ban expiring Sunday.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke made recommendations last week to the White House for a new type of travel ban that restricts travel and requires enhanced screening methods for people traveling from certain countries deemed to have inadequate vetting measures. The recommendations, which may even restrict travel from some countries entirely, are based on a list of nations that DHS says do not meet certain security standards. Administration officials did not say which countries failed to meet the standards, how many countries failed to meet the standards, or exactly what those standards are.
"The acting secretary has recommended actions that are tough and that are tailored," Miles Taylor, counselor to the acting homeland security secretary, said.
Carl Risch, assistant secretary for consular affairs at the State Department, said DHS worked closely with the State Department on the matter. This summer, the U.S. notified all countries of certain baseline verification standards — that is, the individual identification information and information the country must provide related to public safety and national security — and gave countries 50 days to come into compliance. Most nations met the vetting standards, but others failed to adequately comply. Duke eventually made her recommendations to the president with the list of noncompliant countries on Sept. 15.
"We need to know who is coming into our country," Miles said.
The new ban, unlike the earlier ones, does not have a timeline, administration officials said.
The Wall Street Journal, which initially reported the outline of the new travel ban, said the rule will affect eight or nine countries, which would be slightly more than the earlier travel bans.
Mr. Trump signed his original ban in January, banning travel from seven countries: Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Iran. As legal challenges continued to block the implementation of the ban, the president signed a revised ban targeting the same countries, minus Iraq.
The Trump administration has said that the intent of the ban is to improve screening and prevent terrorists from entering the country, and to evaluate how well countries are complying with U.S. vetting procedures.
This is a change that seems to be in keeping with a tweet from the president last week, in which he said that the travel ban "should be far larger, tougher and more specific."
The administration continues to defend its ban from lawsuits. Next month, on Oct. 10, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the revised travel ban.