NPZ Immigration Law Blog

On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order relating to visa issuance, screening procedures, and refugees. The Executive Order is titled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States." Designated countries are those identified in INA §217(a)(12) and later added to the list of countries with Visa Waiver restrictions and would therefore include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Note that INA §217(a)(12) includes restrictions on people who travel to the designated countries, as well.With the Executive Order in place the government has halted travel for refugees from the 7 designated countries. The exception for refugees that are currently “in transit” found in Section 5(e) of the Executive Order does not apply to people from those designated countries. However, based on authority in the executive order, refugees that are NOT from the designated countries that had been scheduled to arrive in the next few days will be allowed entry to the U.S. upon arrival. There were reportedly no refugees scheduled to travel over the weekend.

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