Travel Ban 3.0 is Blocked by the Courts

The latest version of the travel ban — the third — limits travel from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. The nations of Chad, North Korea and Venezuela have been added. And Sudan, which was part of the original ban, has been dropped. It is contained in Presidential Proclamation 9645 — which is titled Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats."

The new rules were to take effect Oct. 18. Unlike the previous versions, the new ban is not temporary. It will remain in place until the affected nations comply with very rigorous requirements for vetting their citizens before they can receive visas to enter the U.S. Like the two versions before this, the ban has now been blocked by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.

A federal Judge in Hawaii issued a Temporary Restraining Order based on the ban’s insufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States,” evidence that the court says would be necessary for the ban to be enforceable.

In Maryland, a federal judge issued a Preliminary Injunction blocking implementation of the ban. The injunction notes that then-candidate Trump posted a document called "Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration" on his website in December of 2015. The order further traced other references by Trump, calling to keep Muslims out of the U.S. The judge also pointed to an embrace of the presidential order as a "travel ban" once Trump was in office.

Like the Hawaii TRO, the Maryland judge’s order enjoins the government on a nation-wide basis from enforcing this version of the travel ban with respect to the Muslim majority countries. These orders, however, do not apply to Venezuelans and North Koreans.