• Visa ban amended to allow Iraqi interpreters into U.S.,

Pentagon urged change to policy

The Trump administration amended its visa ban on Thursday to allow emigration by the families of Iraqi interpreters who served the United States government and military forces deployed in their country.

The change, recommended by the Pentagon, eased some of the anger generated in Iraq by President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing the ban, which has stoked anxiety and confusion around much of the world since it was issued last week.

The order temporarily blocked all Syrian refugees from entering the United States and suspended visas for applicants from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq. It applied to holders of so-called Special Immigrant Visas issued to interpreters who worked for the United States during its 2003-11 occupation, often at great personal risk, and to their families.

In a statement about the change sent to The New York Times, a United States Embassy official in Baghdad said, “The U.S. government has determined that it is in the national interest to allow Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders to continue to travel to the United States.” Iraqis who have received the visas, the statement said, may use them, and the “U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will continue to process and issue SIVs to applicants who are otherwise qualified.”

The travel ban has thrown the lives of many former interpreters in Iraq into turmoil. Even with valid visas in hand, some were refused entry at American airports and others were removed from planes scheduled to fly to the United States.

There was also confusion because the executive order, at least initially, barred entry to Iraqis who held American green cards. Many of them, but not all, were eventually permitted to enter the United States.

The Pentagon recommended that the White House exempt from the travel ban Special Immigrant Visa holders and others who had demonstrated their commitment to American military forces.

Other Iraqis who assisted the American military or government in Iraq indirectly remained in limbo Thursday, even though many had received refugee visas to resettle in the United States.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General announced late Wednesday that it will conduct a broad review of the implementation of Mr. Trump’s refugee ban, looking particularly at whether employees engaged in misconduct or failed to comply with court orders.

Customs and Border Protection officers initially were detaining and deporting not just valid visa holders but also green-card holders after they arrived at U.S. airports — some even after federal judges ordered the practice to stop.

Following Mr. Trump’s order, the State Department also issued an internal memorandum revoking the visas of all nationals from those countries, without notifying them, even those who are legally studying, working and living in the United States.

Elsewhere, hundreds of ethnic Yemeni business owners who operate New York City corner bodegas and neighborhood delis closed shop Thursday in protest of Mr. Trump’s ban.

And Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Thursday said he will resign from Mr. Trump’s business advisory council after facing intense public pressure following the ban.

Also, Ali Vayeghan, an Iranian man who was barred from entering the United States under Mr. Trump’s travel ban, returned to Los Angeles on Thursday, the first person allowed into the country after a legal challenge to the White House’s executive order.

At the same time, community groups in Michigan and Minnesota have decided to reject hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal aid to fight violent extremism because of what they call the Trump camp’s vilification of Muslims, including its alleged plan to reframe a federal program countering “violent extremism” to one targeting “Islamic extremism.”

Many Democrats opposed to Mr. Trump, meanwhile, were accelerating moves to link arms with Muslim and human rights groups — moves seen as striking since every poll, except for a Gallup survey out Thursday, has found a plurality of voters generally liking the “Muslim ban.”

In other news, word was beginning to trickle out Thursday that the Justice Department rescinded the Obama administration’s policy of speeding up hearings and deportations of families and children seeking refuge in the United States.