By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--March 7, 2017
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"This revised executive order advances our shared goal of protecting the homeland. I commend the administration and (Homeland Security Secretary John) Kelly in particular for their hard work on this measure to improve our vetting standards. We will continue to work with President Trump to keep our country safe," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who along with Sen. John McCain, had been an outspoken critic of the original travel ban, congratulated Trump on the new ban, which he said doesn't discriminate based on religion and instead focuses on immigrants from "compromised governments and failed states." "I have always shared President Trump's desire to protect our homeland," Graham said in a statement. "This Executive Order will achieve the goal of protecting our homeland and will, in my view, pass legal muster." But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer predicted Monday that the improved coordination and narrower scope would have little effect on the new ban's chances in the courts. "Despite their best efforts, I fully expect this executive order to have the same uphill climb in the courts that the previous version had," the New York Democrat said in a statement. "A watered-down ban is still a ban. Despite the Administration's changes, this dangerous executive order makes us less safe, not more, it is mean-spirited, and un-American. It must be repealed."
The new ban, which takes effect March 16, also explicitly exempts citizens of the six banned countries who are legal US permanent residents or have valid visas to enter the US -- including those whose visas were revoked during the original implementation of the ban, senior administration officials said. "We cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly, or when those governments actively support terrorism," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday. The new measures will block citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. The order also suspends admission of refugees into the US for 120 days, directing US officials to improve vetting measures for a program that is already widely regarded as extremely stringent.
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