The Guardian reports that a “watered-down version of the Trump administration’s ‘travel ban’ is to take effect over the summer following a supreme court decision on Monday reversing a series of federal court rulings on the ban. The decision by the US’s highest court raises a number of questions about what the new ban will mean for people in the six Muslim-majority nations affected, as well as for a president who has been repeatedly stymied by the judiciary in the first five months of his administration.”
Here are questions & answers provided by The Guardian:
Q: Has the supreme court made a determination as to whether Trump’s travel ban is constitutional?
A: No. The key aspects of the ban had been stayed – temporarily blocked – in their entirety by federal courts in Maryland and Hawaii, rulings subsequently upheld by federal appeals courts. On Monday, the supreme court agreed to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the ban this fall, and allowed certain aspects of it to take effect in the meantime.
Q: Which countries does this partially reinstated ban affect?
A: The ban affects travelers from Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. A prior version of the ban also included travel by Iraqi nationals, but the administration dropped the country from its list in a revised version of the ban signed in early March.
Q: So if it’s partially reinstated, who is affected and who isn’t?
A: The supreme court says the reinstated ban should only apply to “foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States”, a phrase that will undoubtedly be subject to a great deal of parsing over the coming months. This means that individuals from the affected countries who have family in the US, or legitimate work or educational reasons for travel, should not be included in the revamped ban, a huge contingent of those who would have otherwise been affected.
The new ban also will not apply to those who already have a valid visa to enter the US, unlike the original ban, which left otherwise credentialed passengers stranded at airports worldwide, sparking outrage and protests. Prospective tourists from the six outlined countries with no family connections to the US are the most likely to be affected by the ban, as well as refugees fleeing violence in the region, especially from the civil war in Syria.
The court specifically notes that “a nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their exclusion”
Q: When does the ban go into effect?
A: While there is no official answer to this question, a Trump administration memo issued earlier this month suggested a 72-hour rollout window for a revised version of the ban. That would mean Thursday morning.
Be sure to CLICK for more Q&A on this important topic –
