Trump weighs fresh curbs on travel as ban expires
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump is weighing the next iteration of his controversial travel ban, which could include new, more tailored restrictions on travellers from additional countries.
The Department of Homeland Security has recommended the president impose the new, targeted restrictions on foreign nations from countries it says refuse to share sufficient information with the U. S. or haven’t taken necessary security precautions. The restrictions could vary by country, officials said.
Trump’s ban on visitors from six Muslim-majority nations, which sparked protests and a flurry of lawsuits, is set to expire Sunday, 90 days after it took effect.
“The acting secretary has recommended actions that are tough and that are tailored, including restrictions and enhanced screening for certain countries,” Miles Taylor, counsellor to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, told reporters Friday.
But officials refused to say how many countries — and which countries — might be affected, insisting the president had yet to make a final decision on how to proceed.
Taylor said the recommendations were based on whether countries were providing U. S. authorities with enough information to validate the identities of potential immigrants and visitors and to determine whether or not they posed a threat.
Trump’s travel ban executive orders remain two of the most controversial actions of his administration.
The ban, which went into effect in late June, barred citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who lacked a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States” from entering the country. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the ban next month.
Officials described the process of reaching the new recommendations as far more deliberate and systematic than Trump’s original travel ban order, which was signed just days after he took office with little consultation or input outside the White House.
DHS said it had worked with other agencies to develop a comprehensive new baseline for foreign nationals based on factors like whether their countries issued passports with biometric information to prevent fraud and shared information about travellers’ terror-related and criminal histories.
“This l ooks to be the Trump administration’s third try to make good on an unconstitutional campaign promise to ban Muslims from the United States,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement.
A new travel policy could also complicate the Supreme Court’s review, scheduled for argument on Oct. 10. The court could order the parties to submit written arguments about what should happen next, and it might dismiss the case or return it to lower courts for a fresh analysis of the changed circumstances.