The court rejected that the latest version of the travel ban is against Muslims or discriminatory in nature. People from North Korea and Venezuela will also be affected.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered to execute in full strength President Donald Trump’s latest version of Executive Order 13769 Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, popularly called travel ban. This comes as a big victory for the Trump administration that requested the court to immediately put the ban in action after it was blocked by lower courts.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley welcomed the court’s order to put into effect the contentious travel ban.
“We are not surprised by today’s Supreme Court decision permitting immediate enforcement of the President’s proclamation limiting travel from countries presenting heightened risks of terrorism,” Gidley said during a press gaggle on Monday. “The proclamation is lawful and essential to protecting our homeland. We look forward to presenting a fuller defense of the proclamation as the pending cases work their way through the courts.”
The order will affect travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, and Yemen. Though the order will be implemented immediately, the ground impact on airports will be clearer in coming days.
Meanwhile, as BBC reports, this week federal appeals courts in San Francisco, California, and Richmond, Virginia, are scheduled to hear arguments on the lawfulness of the revised executive order. Thereafter, the case will end up in the Supreme Court again.
The travel ban was introduced within days after Trump took over in January. The executive order put a lot of confusion for travelers at the airports as to whether they would be allowed entry to the US. As per the latest iteration, travelers from the above eight countries will be banned from entering the US for 90 days. It also puts a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the country. However, there is one exception to the ban. Travelers from the above-listed countries who have “bona fide” relationship with a person in the US are permitted to travel. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were included in the ambit of “bona fide” relationship.