President Considers New Travel Ban

Three years ago, shortly after President Trump entered office, he issued an executive order that, among other things, banned visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — even for those who have been living in the U.S. in valid employment or student status but who need new visas for re-entry. It was the subject of much litigation, aimed largely at the motivations behind the so-called ‘Muslim ban’.

The Supreme Court upheld much of the legality of what the administration had done.However it also had perverse and unintended consequences such as denying entry to the United States to an Iraqi escaping death threats after working for years for the US military, keeping out an Iranian tech worker living in Canada who was supposed to come to the US to join a startup incubator, and preventing a professional basketball player with dual citizenship from playing games in Canada.

Oddly it froze visa issuance to people from countries that have not supplied a single terrorist to the US (but not from countries that have).

Now the Trump administration is considering an expanded travel ban that targets additional countries. There’s a leaked document that lays this out, however the specific new countries to be added to the list are blacked out on it.


Copyright: prestonia / 123RF Stock Photo

Currently the President’s executive order on immigration applies to Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea. As a first stab it probably includes Iraq, Sudan, and Chad since those were a part of an earlier ban three years ago but subsequently removed from the list. Although this is speculative and it’s unknown what countries may be targeted.

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. I support a 3 month temporary travel ban on United 1K and Alaska MVP Gold 75. They are so rich with miles that they should be punished! Let the low level elite get the upgrade. Trump, are you listening????

  2. Makes sense. There is practically no legitimate tourists from people in these countries and we certainly don’t need groups who already commit a disproportionately high amount of violence to join the groups that do so in the U.S. There are 40 million citizens who are underemployed. Let them fill the startups and what not.

  3. Iran is such a disappointing target for a travel ban. I have known about 20 Iranians and most were as western and socially liberal as they come, highly tolerant of alternate views and nice, chilled out people. All extremely well educated, and they almost universally hatred the Iranian political regime. Them leaving Iran was Iran’s loss and the world’s gain. Sad to think that such a brain drain will eventually leave the country in a pretty sorry state.

  4. Hey Jackson Rogers, you are a bigoted low IQ redneck. You and the rest of the Trump supporting dumbFs really make my skin crawl. You have no integrity, intelligence or soul.

  5. Yeah, we need to stop pretending this is about bigotry. If a country is lawless, it’s passports are for sale by the militia in power at that particular moment. As such, passports from those places need to be treated as the phony documents they likely are.

  6. @Andy

    Turn it the other way around. Should whites be entitled to move to Iran or Somalia, take jobs from ancestrally native people, disrupt culture and be allowed to vote affecting the outcome of Iranian and Somali lives. The obvious answer is no. But that’s exactly what Iranians and Somalis do when they immigrate to western countries. Imagine 40 million whites illegally entering japan, having kids and those kids voting to tell the Japanese how to live their lives. That’s madness and that’s exactly what we have in the U.S. with illegal immigration from the southern border. Let’s not compound that with Iranians and Somalis. People who support that support the genocide of white Christian western culture.

  7. @Jackson Rogerson – you and your kind should really just go back to 8Chan. These basic travel sites are still a bit too highbrow for you. Let me guess…no passport?

  8. Everyone knows that UA-NYC is an anti-american creep. That is why he is called the Manhattan Waterbug. WTH, anyone that puts “UA” (read yuck airline) in their name is nuts. So Waterbug, do you actually pay for your UA flights, or do you just try to fly and hitch a ride.

    BTW,. I have never heard of 8Chan. You must read it regularly, since you keep on mentioning it.

  9. OJS – maybe you should stick to 8Chan (sites where, shall we say, frustrated, less educated, Caucasian Americans can go and vent about all the brown people in the US) and keep the discussion going that Patrick Mahomes is a “white quarterback” (as you did).

  10. @Rob do you know where I could snag a “phony” Chadian passport? It would save me a fortune on visa fees if I decide to go travel around East and Central Africa. And of course unrestricted access to Chad!

  11. @Jackson Rogerson. Agreed.

    As an aside, I would love to move to Japan. However, I would never be Japanese. Moreover, if I had children while in Japan, they also would never be entirely Japanese (Hāfu or not Japanese depending on whether or not the mother was Japanese). Immigration is very difficult.

    For example, Take a look at the Zainichi Koreans. Roughly, these are Koreans whose ancestors moved to Japan, sometimes forcibly. Many speak Japanese (and do not speak Korean). They have both Korean and Japanese names. They are shut out of many jobs because they are considered foreigners both under the law and culturally. To become full fledged citizens legally, they have to immigrate in a somewhat complex ceremony.

  12. @UA-NYC. Some Japanese do believe in reincarnation. Just wondering what you did in your last life to be reincarnated as a Waterbug. Do you have dreams at night doing wicked things. Might be a vision from you past life.

    Also, do you read, I have never heard of 8Chan.

  13. @Ignat. Excellent point. Looking at history, many intellectuals in Russia were behind Marxism. However, Stalin considered these intellectuals to be a threat, and sent them all to Siberian prisons. In fact, in one prison, the prisoners decided to create a prison orchestra. It was actually pretty good since almost all of the Moscow orchestra had also been sent to Siberia.

    Now paradoxically, many of these people were saved from a life in a Siberian prison by the Cold War. Stalin needed these intellectuals to develop military equipment and moved them back to Moscow to develop nuclear bombs and what not. They remained under arrest, but were allow apartments and wives, and worked in labs.

    People like Andy who rants against Trump supporters, when Trump supporters believe in the free speech, which give Andy the right to rant at all. Loudmouth ungrateful troublemakers like Andy, would be the first people a left wing tyranny would have to muzzle.

  14. We know for certain that the KKK agrees with Jackson and Headley above. In fact I’m sure White Supremicists nationwide will back these two up. These Trumpsters racists are on their way out

  15. We know that Gene-tic was a failed DNA experiment. Also, we know that Allen the Mark is a sucker that buys into everything the race hustlers say. Genetic and Allen the Mark, I have a charity for you to donate to. It is called the Sanger Wilson Project after the founders of Planned Parenthood and President Wilson. Their goals good for humanity. In other words, they mean well. Please send $10,000 to save the world (they have a multiple choice form with most of the liberal causes). BTW, the proceeds are managed by the Clintons so you can trust that the money actually goes to good causes.

    LOL: Of course, there is no such charity, I just made it up. Sanger of course believed in eugenics. President Wilson of course re-segregated the federal workforce. The Clintons actually made money on 2010 Haiti earthquake. [To paraphrase former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, never let a piggy bank of donations go to waste.] But all are icons of the Democratic party and the Progressive left. Go figure.

  16. Allen —

    You are a fool and although I have no wish to ever join or support the KKK, in reality, they would never accept me anyway — use your own impressive intellect to understand why.

  17. Let’s ban Trump later this year instead. Or build a wall around him “and make Mexico pay for it” (Ha)

  18. Gary, I look forward to a future climate change post by you, and these same knuckle dragger MAGA types here making the argument that “of course climate change isn’t real, it just snowed today”

  19. Ban all the Red neck gun carrying mass murders on all flights. They kill more Americans in one year then terrorist do.

Comments are closed.