Explained | Trump promises to reimpose Muslim travel ban. What is it?

Former United States president Donald Trump, who is a 2024 presidential hopeful, on Saturday (Oct 28) promised the re-imposition of a controversial order that targeted a slew of mostly Muslim countries if he becomes president again. Addressing a Republican Jewish convention in Las Vegas, Trump said, "We will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country."

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"You remember the travel ban? On day one, I will restore our travel ban," he added. Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Trump said he would defend "our friend and ally" Israel like nobody ever has.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is "a fight between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil," he said.

What is the Muslim travel ban?

After winning the 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump signed an executive order in late January 2017 that prohibited travel and refugee settlement from select predominately Muslim countries. The order banned travel to the US for 90 days from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and also suspended the resettlement of all Syrian refugees.

"As President, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people. I am committed to our ongoing efforts to engage those countries willing to cooperate, improve information-sharing and identity-management protocols and procedures, and address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks," Trump said on September 24, 2017.

"Some of the countries with remaining inadequacies face significant challenges. Others have made strides to improve their protocols and procedures, and I commend them for these efforts," he added.

Trump pointed out that it was Washington's policy to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks and other public safety threats. Screening and vetting protocols and procedures associated with visa adjudications and other immigration processes play a critical role in implementing that policy, he said.

2017 order sparked nationwide stir

According to a report by Immigration History, Trump's Muslim travel ban order sparked protests across the US at airports, and immigration rights, refugee resettlement, and civil liberties organisations undertook several legal challenges to the order on the grounds that it constituted religious discrimination.

The suits against the travel bans resulted in court injunctions temporarily blocking the order and groups in opposition to the ban also blocked a second iteration of the executive order, the report said.

In June 2018, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion, ultimately allowed a third version of the executive order to go into force, which expanded the list of barred travellers to include nationals from Venezuela (limited to government officials) and North Korea.

Two years later, the Trump administration expanded visa restrictions tosix more countries–Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania–citing screening and national security concerns in those countries.

Biden reverses ban

Upon his victory against Trump in the 2020 presidential election, current President Joe Biden reversed the ban in his first week in office. A White House spokesperson said that Biden "was proud to overturn the vile, un-American Muslim ban enacted by Donald Trump.

In a statement on January 20, 2021, Biden criticised the Muslim travel ban order.

"The previous administration enacted a number of Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations that prevented certain individuals from entering the United States — first from primarily Muslim countries, and later, from largely African countries. Those actions are a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all," Biden said.

He said that the travel ban order undermined the US national security, and jeopardised the country's global network of alliances and partnerships. "Make no mistake, where there are threats to our Nation, we will address them," Biden added.

Biden revoked the following:Executive Order 13780 of March 6, 2017 (Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States), Proclamation 9645 of September 24, 2017 (Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats), Proclamation 9723 of April 10, 2018 (Maintaining Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats), and Proclamation 9983 of January 31, 2020 (Improving Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats).

He called for the resumption of visa services for the affected countries, a review of information-sharing relationships, and a plan to strengthen partnerships.

"Where there are opportunities to strengthen information-sharing with partners, we will pursue them. And when visa applicants request entry to the United States, we will apply a rigorous, individualized vetting system," the president also said.

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