President Trump on Monday signed a revised version of his executive order that would for the first time rewrite American immigration policy to ban migrants from predominantly Muslim nations. The revised version removes citizens of Iraq from the original travel embargo and scraps a provision that explicitly protected religious minorities.
The order, which comes about a month after federal judges blocked Trump’s haphazardly implemented ban in January on residents from seven Middle Eastern and African countries, won’t affect people who had previously been issued visas — a change that the administration hopes will avoid the chaos, protests and legal challenges that followed the first order.
But it did little to halt criticism from Democrats and immigrant rights groups, which predicted a renewed fight in the courts. Trump’s initial, hastily issued order on Jan. 27 prompted protests across the country, leaving tearful families stranded at airports abroad and in the United States.
The new measure will be phased in over the next two weeks, according to officials with the Department of Homeland Security.
John F. Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary, said the order was “prospective” and applied “only to foreign nationals outside of the United States” who do not have a valid visa.