Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

Donald Trump signed Monday evening the revised executive order on travel, banning entry to the US for citizens of six Arab countries with terror connections: Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Libya. Iraq was removed from the list after officials in the administration realized that Iraq is actually fighting terror and helping the US and removing it from the list will aid bilateral relations between the countries.

The original executive order issued by Trump which banned entry into the US for citizens of seven Arab countries suspected of terror connections, has now been rephrased and restructured. A number of clauses have been changed and the number of countries reduced to six. The new order issued by President Trump enables him to fulfill his campaign promise to restore security to the US by removing potential terrorist threats and at the same time to extricate himself from the legal complications of the original executive order.

The new order, first revealed Monday morning, sharply contrast the previous one which was hurriedly prepared by presidential advisors Steve Bannon and Steven Miller, who are not experts in the topic of foreign affairs. The present order was prepared by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

The previous order was frozen by a federal court despite its stating that holders of green cards and other people with dual citizenship would be excluded. However the present order does not state that preferential treatment will be given to non-Muslims regarding immigration visas and is therefore constitutional. Moreover it does not harm those living legally in the US with Green Cards or those who have work visas. It also does not harm various states in the US by preventing entry of qualified workers and students and therefore those states will not have reason to petition the courts against the new order.

The new order simply suspends the issuing of new visas to residents of six countries, after Iraq was removed from the list, and freezes travel for a defined period of time.The ban on visa seekers is to last 90 days, while the US refugee program will be suspended for 120 days.