Despite What You’ve Heard Most of Trump’s Executive Orders on Travel Haven’t Been Stopped

The President’s executive order on immigration was badly written and interpreted to have some immediate perverse consequences such as (temporarily) denying entry to the United States to an Iraqi escaping death threats after working for years for the US military. And keeping out an Iranian tech worker living in Canada who was supposed to come to the US to join a startup incubator. And even would make a professional basketball player with dual citizenship unable to play games in Canada.

The order was enjoined in federal court — a temporary measure subject to continued litigation, and subject to re-writing to better comply with laws (apparently the order hadn’t been reviewed in advance by the administration’s own Office of Legal Counsel as is normally required according to the OLC’s own website and instead written by a team led by Rudy Guiliani in order to give facial plausibility to a Muslim ban).


Copyright: andreyuu / 123RF Stock Photo

We don’t yet know the manner or extent to which the administration will comply with the orders. Regardless, not all of the Executive Order was stopped. And not all of the actions taken by the current administration that will affect travel and the rights of travelers was contained solely in that Executive Order on immigration.

  • While deportations have been stopped, the order still freezes visa issuance to people from countries that have not supplied a single terrorist to the US (but not from countries that have).

  • And it still places new limits on accepting refugees, suspends the Visa Interview waiver program (note: this is not a suspension of ESTA), and requires the collection and publication of data on immigrants “relevant to public safety and security” designed to stoke outrage and anti-immigrant sentiment.

  • Identifying any country whose visa reciprocity agreements with the U.S. aren’t ‘truly reciprocal’ in order to place limits on or raise costs of entry for citizens of those countries.

  • As I wrote yesterday, the Executive Order demands the establishment of border exit controls not just entry controls. These would apply to US citizens, not only to foreigners or foreigners from specific countries. The expense involved makes the likelihood of full deployment unclear, but this element of the Executive Order hasn’t to my knowledge been challenged in court (and is actually specifically authorized in law).


    Copyright: prestonia / 123RF Stock Photo

  • Wednesday’s Executive Order on public safety in the interior of the U.S. contains a provision to limit protections of the Privacy Act to U.S. citizens only.

    Sec. 14. Privacy Act. Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information.

    The EU has much stricter privacy rules than the U.S. does. The US and EU have a data protection agreement that subjects travel reservation (PNR) data to privacy safeguards. It’s a precondition for the EU allowing its airlines to provide data demanded by the US government. However the agreement is not US law, and thus undermined by the executive order.

While a limited portion of the executive order limiting travel has been temporarily placed on hold, much of the order and other orders remain in place.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. What would a day be without more anti-Trump spin from Gary?
    Gotta say that the left freaking out on a daily basis is just so delicious and entertaining.

  2. @Jose – you nailed it, Gary enjoys his opportunities to nail Trump.

    On the other hand, Gary has and continues to provide valuable travel information….from which I frequently benefit.

    Like so many other sources, reading Gary’s information is a matter of selective sifting and saving what’s important to you and simply disregarding the remainder.

    It’s a process.

  3. More political propaganda, further eroding Gary Leff’s credibility and usefulness. It’s disappointing to sign up for a blog for travel tips and instead get a stream of political messages.

  4. Alerting Americans that they will need to ask permission from a government official to leave their country seems like very useful travel advice to me.

  5. Yeah guys this is very germane to Travel. He’s not discussing the Dakota Access pipeline

  6. Keep up the good work Gary! Keep nailing comrade trump as he’s trying to turn the presidency into a dictatorship, we’re not going to be Germany 2.0 over here.

  7. @Jose @Chad – this is a factual post about travel restrictions that are being largely ignored in the media. One of the biggest stories right now is the executive order on immigration, and the injunctions against it by the federal judiciary. But what’s the order, and what the injunctions mean, is largely misunderstood.

    What in the context of the post do you disagree with, or think is factually incorrect? Or are you simply mood-affiliating against it?

  8. In today’s climate, if you don’t buy the alternate reality, you are called a leftist and a Trump hater. Let the sanity prevail so that we can see things through the Travel Prism rather than through the left/right Political Prism. For the dissatisfied folks, moving on to another blogger is the civil thing to do. Taking uncalled for shots at Gary is showing the worst of your personality.

  9. Please ignore the naysayers Gary, thank you for providing us valuable intel on travel upsates!

  10. @Jose, please don’t read anything about what our government is doing then go to the airport and get a nice surprise.

  11. Thank you Gary for noting the stripping of privacy rights from all but US citizens. I had not been aware that my family is no longer allowed protection of our privacy. Being here on an investor visa after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over the last 8 years, and employing quite a number of Americans apparently does not give me a right to privacy anymore. I assume that this is just the beginning of the discrimination that we will face over the next four years. While not a member of the groups or countries that Trump and his executive have targeted for their hatred, it is apparent that there is no country that counts as friend anymore, only greater or lesser foes. This further solidifies our decision to leave and never come back.

  12. This exec order impacts exactly 0 ppl who read this blog. How many Yemeni nationals give a shit about FF miles? Foreigners currently outside of the US don’t have constitutional rights, so your activist judges block will be short lived. So continue on with your temper tantrum, libbies.

  13. gary,
    with all due respect you are wrong on following,
    “While deportations have been stopped, the order still freezes visa issuance to people from countries that have not supplied a single terrorist to the US (but not from countries that have).”
    http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/19/minnesota-terror-sentences-expected-to-set-national-pattern/

    but there is a good news though.
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/29/dhs-vows-enforce-donald-trumps-executive-order/

    thank you Mr. President.

  14. @ Gary

    It’s your blog and you can post what you wish. I just think that it would be more useful to not only give facts but to recognize and try to moderate your own bias given your diverse readership. Links to sites giving multiple perspectives/interpretations would be helpful.

  15. @Ron – I guess what I’m interested in, then, is what perspective you think is missing? This post is a list of things, drawing on administration executive orders, that are largely not being reported on and are uninterrupted by federal court injunctions. These are underreported facts, what sort of balance do see left out?

  16. @WR you are mistaken. I tweeted yesterday (linked above) with an Iranian living in Canada who was supposed to come to the US to join a tech incubator for his startup. He was flying Delta. Delta issued him a refund.

  17. @steven k – you are mistaken, there have been absolutely zero US deaths in the past 20 years perpetrated by terrorists from the countries listed in the executive order. terrorist deaths have come mostly from saudi arabia which is not on the list.

  18. Trump supporters WILL lose if they win. Lose diversity, decency, compassion, the respect of the world amongst other wonderful aspects of humanity.

    You silly silly people. America is not the world. It is only 5% of this amazing diverse planet. “America first” will leave it last in the end. Just watch the support from the world of those who are banned. Just watch retaliations and how decent Americans push back explosively.

    America is built on the back of immigrants, and THAT is why it’s great. All of you/ us. If you support Trump you are racist. Period.

    Gary is not talking politics he is talking right and wrong.

  19. @Gary I for one appreciate the reporting. While this does not currently impact me I suspect the knock on effects might over time. Don’t let the thin skinned Trump supporters get you down .

  20. @Steven K, the article you posted says that they were sentenced for planning to go to Syria to fight for ISIS. Not sure how you get sentenced in the US for planning to go fight in a war in another country, but that is beside the point. Clearly, these were not terrorists who were planning to commit terrorist acts in America so Gary’s point remains unrefruted.
    Gary, continue on. The listing of actual facts (as opposed to alternative facts) confuses Trump supporters. Not those on the right, there are plenty of rational people in the Republican Party and other conservatives, including you, Gary, and me.

  21. Gary is about as fact based as they come. His only bias is to AA and Hyatt because they speak directly to him.

    But to call this libertarian some “liberal” out to undermine with bias is not true.

  22. Thanks Gary for the facts as opposed to “manufactured news” by the Donald Duck team and FoxfakeNews and extremist Giuilianni and the likes..

    Keep educating the people..

  23. Hi Gary,

    Do not listen to these people. Your blog mentions factual information that people don’t like and they scream foul. Just ignore them, like they should ignore any real facts that raises their blood pressure.

  24. Sixteen countries forbid admission to Israeli passport holders:

    Algeria[12]
    Bangladesh[13]
    Brunei[14]
    Iran[15][16]
    Iraq1[17]
    Kuwait[18]
    Lebanon[19]
    Libya[20]
    Malaysia2[21]
    Oman[22]
    Pakistan[23]
    Saudi Arabia[24][25]
    Sudan[26]
    Syria[27]
    United Arab Emirates3[28]
    Yemen[29][3

    Not heard the bleeding heart liberals on this!! Perhaps if certain countries on the list changed their racist policy then there could be some sympathy with their upset at the USA.

  25. @greg funny thing, I think I’ve been mostly offering negative coverage of AA [and roughly on net negative coverage of March 1 World of Hyatt changes]. It was an AA person who compared me to Donald Trump in November… but I do appreciate your comment nonetheless 🙂

  26. Gary, you stated and asked “… this is a factual post about travel restrictions that are being largely ignored in the media. What in the context of the post do you disagree with, or think is factually incorrect?…”

    I wasn’t challenging the factual aspects of your post, but the way you choose to editorialize (whether you realize it or not). Your snark and condescending descriptions of things you don’t agree with have been there for months and years, but are seemingly now more prevalent since you lost in November. Stick to reporting and stop the preaching.

  27. I dont think or find Gary’s posting bias on any political side, his travel news updates Help me as a travel professional keep abreast of aspects that might affect my clients.
    Using Gary’s information i still fact check the information and make sure that I am passing on information that is correct and valuable. So far this topic has saved one of my clients unnecessary pain on re-entering the USA as they have cancelled their travel arrangements. Until such time that re-entry process is much clearer.
    I thank you for your work ..

  28. @Jose you’re making a lot of assumptions which aren’t based on facts… “I lost” in November? How do you figure? Where do you think I’m coming from politically?

  29. Excellent post Gary and keep up the good work. For those who don’t get their news from breitbart or Fox this is the time for a donation to the ACLU because they are going to have their hands full for a while.

  30. The liberal lemmings here can’t even grasp that the MSM reports about the activist judge’s ruling are (intentionally) inaccurate. Let alone the breathless reporting on Trump’s raaaaaacist executive order.

    So much winning. And it has only been a little over one week.

  31. Keep posting on these issues, Gary. It’s a valuable service. And feel free to editorialize, for that matter. Readers would benefit from your perspectives on these developments. I’ve sometimes differed with your perspectives on other matters, but still value them.

    If pro-Trump trolls and others don’t like it, they’re free to skip these posts or stop reading your blog entirely. But I’ll be you’ll pick up more readers who value the information and insights you provide – and might also be interested in the information you provide on miles, points, etc.

    But I don’t want to reduce this to a matter of readership. As a matter of principle, you’re doing the right thing through these kinds of posts.

  32. Green card holders are all being admitted after slight delays while their status is verified. I suggest you take a deep breath and google ¨Death to Americä” where you will find numerous videos on You Tube of the leader of Iran (and others) encouraging thousands of Iranians to chant death to America. The world is a dangerous place and is why we need to be sure that non citizens entering the USA have our best interests at heart. America First!

  33. Sorry, Gary, but you most definitely lost in November. You are American and must live with Trump as your leader for four years, therefore, you and every other American lost. Some don’t know it yet, but every American lost in November.

  34. @Pete “activist judge’s ruling” do you realize that there were (4) different judges who made rulings, including a Republican appointee, and that the judge in the Eastern District of Virginia (who was second, by minutes, with her order) who was a Clinton appointee was the one who sentenced the 20th 9/11 hijacker to life?

  35. @andy “America is built on the back of immigrants, and THAT is why it’s great. All of you/ us. If you support Trump you are racist. Period. ”
    I am compelled to respond to this comment. Really? You must lead a very sheltered life.
    I am an immigrant (on whose back this country was built, right?). I have my own business, provide jobs to Americans, whether immigrants or not, Trump supporter and I am a woman too! Am I a racist? You have to be shocked that people like me even exist!

  36. Thank you Gary. What you tell us is vital to our travels and to our understanding of the industry. Many of us are or have familiy members affected by this post. I am happy to say that not all your readers are straight christain white males but people who can terribly be affected by Trump policies. you are not creating news, our racist government is and if it offends anyone sensibilies to get this travel information we know where they are coming from. Don’t be bullied by the alt right. And yes Norita, if you support Trump you are a racist In agreement with the KKK

    . .

  37. @Pete diversion? i offered arguments to suggest your smear of ‘activist judges’ doesn’t seem quite right. Instead of responding to those arguments, or offering warrants for your claim, you respond with a non-sequitur … yet my comment is a ‘diversion’? Not so much 😉

  38. andy blathers:

    “… diversity, decency, compassion, the respect of the world amongst other wonderful aspects of humanity.

    You silly silly people. … Just watch retaliations and how decent Americans push back explosively.

    If you support Trump you are racist. Period. ”

    Hypocrisy much?

    Thank God for enlightened progs like you. That’s what got Trump elected, and will insure that there adults in charge of America for the next generation.

    MAGA!

  39. Gary wrote… “Where do you think I’m coming from politically?”

    LOL. Good one.
    Even funnier that you don’t understand that your left wing biases come thru in what you write.

  40. OK TLiT, whatever you say. Go ahead and ignore the underlying story here. Hint: you referenced it in your post title.

  41. Farnorthtrader Until he is impeached for using his influence as president to make money of foreign nationals ( before you mention he claim he will donate profits, it does not say just profits are illegal, and how could it even be verified without his releasing his tax returns) I give it two years then the right will decide they like pence more and he will try to be president for 10 years.

  42. This is an important issue and critical to how the world see us. Thank you for reporting on how this rushed Executive Order impacts our travels and the lives of people. It’s among your most impactful posts to date.

  43. Gary,
    Most of the rightwing extremists are ignorant, illiterate, KKK supporters, wife-beaters and pedophiles. Don’t listen to these nuts..they are beyond redemption!
    Keep up the good work and educate the rest of us..

  44. I think all the outraged people should go find a pro-Trump frequent flyer blog where they can harness the power of their bubble thinking. They have to have their own right wing TV and websites. Maybe they can find their own blogs too.

    Million Mile Secrets wears a bow tie. Maybe he’s an intellectual conservative. Oh wait, those people hate Trump too…

  45. Gary, I appreciate the information you have included in this post. The topic is clearly travel-related and factual. I had not seen any news about the USA-EU privacy issue, so this perspective is unique and welcome. I will start researching this further.
    One other note, I’m not a liberal. Never have been, never will be. But to assume that some people who ran for office under a particular party’s banner are conservative, or looking out for all Americans, is simply foolish. We must all question our government office holders, no matter who they are or what party affiliation they claim.

    Critical thinking is imperative.

  46. So Gary, you are doubling down on your Fake News story yesterday; “such as (temporarily) denying entry to the United States to an Iraqi escaping death threats after working for years for the US military”. He was not “denied entry”, he was held up long enough to be questioned and it was determined that he met the requirements for immediate entry, and then allowed in.

    Please post links to your past posts that angrily protested these similar actions by former President Obama:

    From ABC News “Exclusive: US May Have Let ‘Dozens’ of Terrorists Into Country As Refugees”

    “Several dozen suspected terrorist bombmakers, including some believed to have targeted American troops, may have mistakenly been allowed to move to the United States as war refugees, according to FBI agents investigating the remnants of roadside bombs recovered from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

    “As a result of the Kentucky case, the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News – even for many who had heroically helped U.S. forces as interpreters and intelligence assets. One Iraqi who had aided American troops was assassinated before his refugee application could be processed, because of the immigration delays, two U.S. officials said”.

    All Iraqis banned for SIX MONTHS, with no notice, including those whose lives were endangered from having aided US troops, at least one of whom was indeed murdered due to this no notice rule by Obama’s executive order..

    Please post a link to where you angrily protested that…

    From liberal Washington Post: “Obama’s cruel policy reversal on Cuban refugees”

    “For some fifty years, the US has had a policy of welcoming refugees fleeing the brutal communist dictatorship in Cuba. In the 1990s, the policy was changed to “wetfoot, dryfoot,” under which Cubans who succeeded in reaching the United States would be allowed to stay, but those unfortunate enough to be caught at sea were barred. On Thursday, President Obama ended the wetfoot, dryfoot policy and made Cuban refugees “subject to removal,” like undocumented migrants from other countries.”

    “President Obama and the US government are not responsible for the oppression that Cuban refugees are fleeing. But they are responsible for using force to compel refugees to return to a nation where further oppression is likely to be their lot. Such action makes the US government partially complicit in the injustice perpetrated by the Cuban regime.”

    Again, by executive action, Obama with no notice at all, suddenly ordered that Cuban refugees that had left Cuba days earlier in dangerous unseaworthy boats, and unlike the thousands who have died trying, managed to get here safely, were told they got here one day late, and would now be sent back to be punished by the Communist country of Cuba for the crime of trying to escape that “workers paradise” (sic).

    When has there ever been a Terrorist attack in the US by a Cuban immigrant?

    Please post a link to the post where you angrily protested Obama doing this “with no notice” by “executive order”….

    There is a saying “if it wasn’t for double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all”, but I’m sure that doesn’t apply to you. So I’m looking forward to reading those past posts of yours that I somehow missed at the time you posted them…

  47. A Federal judge will see to it orders are served by Marshalls 24/7 and then if violated the agency heads responsible can be jailed without notice until they comply. “Acting under orders” is not a defense as a judge’s order is inviolate until overruled by a higher court.

    Even more significant today is that Joint Chiefs were demoted off National Security (War) Council replaced by White National Leninist Bannon. This helps ensure that we may still be protected by a military coup if Pumpkinhead waddles too far off the rails.

    You are delusional if you don’t realize he is considered the greatest threat worldwide now. The rednecks who wrecked us with Bush are back with far worse!

  48. The folks calling Gary left wing clearly haven’t been reading this blog. That said, Gary is spot on this one. This is a dispassionate analysis of the very worrying facts. Good work.

  49. @allen roskoff
    And yes Norita, if you support Trump you are a racist In agreement with the KKK.

    Wow just Wow! To call an immigrant (I did not mention “white”) a KKK supporter? Ever look beyond your nose? Ever give even a fleeting thought to what gave rise to Trump? Look at and treat the cause/disease not the symptom/Trump.

  50. Gary —

    Have you seen/heard about protests re the banning of Israelis and travelers with Israeli passport stamps (i.e., the Jewish travel ban)? Specifically, Iran, Iraq*, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen ban Israelis. Iran, Syria, Sudan Libya, and Yemen ban also ban anyone that has an Israeli passport stamp. In other words, 6 of the 7 countries that have been temporarily banned by the USA have their own religious travel bans. Notably, Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE also ban Israelis, and Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also ban travelers with Israeli passport stamps. I don’t recall the protests against these religious bans? Was this something that I missed?

    * Interestingly, there does not appear to be a ban in Iraqi Kurdistan.

    Please note that none of the above should be construed as fully supporting the current policy.

  51. Its so sad to read posts here where people simply say the words “complete moron”, and think they have said anything of any substance at all. That reeks of kindergarten recess taunts at best. The only reasonable response to such a statement is: ‘I know you are, but what is he’? 😉

    From Wikipedia

    “Moron” was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard[3] from the Ancient Greek word μωρός (moros), which meant “dull”[4] and used to describe a person with a mental age in adulthood of between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale.[5] It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51–70, being superior in one degree to “imbecile” (IQ of 26–50) and superior in two degrees to “idiot” (IQ of 0–25). The word moron, along with others including, “idiotic”, “imbecilic”, “stupid”, and “feeble-minded”, was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated in use by psychologists.”

    It’s not difficult to understand that someone with a very leftist ideology would feel threatened by DJT. But to say that someone who has made Billions in business, and then ran a successful POTUS campaign while being opposed by not only the entire Dem party, but also 95% of the Mass Media, and a substantial percentage of the Rep establishment, has an IQ of 51-70 is utterly absurd.

    As for those who say “White National Leninist Bannon”, the idea that the Trump Administration is “Lenninist” is patently absurd. Lenin lead a socialist revolution to overthrow Capitalism by force. Under Lenninism the State rules the country regulating virtually the entire National means of production.

    Trump’s recent pledge to a groups of CEOs to reduce government regulation by perhaps as much as 75%, so as to get private businesses back to work, is obviously the opposite of Leninism. This reeks of Orwell’s famous description of this sort of irrational discourse: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

    Sigh….

  52. Once again Hanson nothing you vomit is rooted in any fact found in any mainstream source. You may be able to dupe the GOP’s ignorant rednecks with Alternative facts, but it doesn’t fly here outside of Mom’s basement.

    Bannon described himself at one point as a Leninist and now as an anarchist.who wants to destroy the system. This is who.Trump replaced the top General on the National Security Council. His National Security adviser is the one who retweeted the lie that Hillary Clinton was running a child prostitution ring out Of a DC pizza Parlor

    Even the Rednecks I grew up around who are easily duped by the GOP in the past., we’re so ashamed to admit they were going to vote for Trump if there wasn’t a yard sign to be seen in my Southwest Missouri Hometown just before the election. So it falls to the most extreme, lunatic nutbags who chew their legs off in the Public Square to defend this blood blister of a mental case

  53. Hitler came to power, using fascist propaganda machine, denigrating immigrants/handicap/women/non-white.., fear-mongering, spreading hate and blaming/scapegoating easy targets like minorities/immigrants…
    History is repeating itself..

  54. We have no history of tolerating dictators like Russia or authoritarian power grabs like Bush tried and was slapped back fiercely even while trying to shroud himself in.9/11 which he let happen after clear warnings.

    The media was much more obedient to Bush than they are proving to tolerate in the slightest with Trump. With two-thirds of the public strongly set against him and already having made mortal enemies of the media, his prospects are so gloomy he’ll be lucky to get away with impeachment or a soft military coup.

  55. What a coincidence that the Muslim travel ban doesn’t apply to countries where Trump does business, huh? Like Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 hijackers came from….

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