As you likely have seen, there was a flurry of Executive Orders (“EO”) during the initial days of the new Trump Administration. The KLF Team has carefully analyzed them to see what effects they may have for our corporate clients in the business immigration law context.
The EO which may affect some of our corporate clients’ foreign national employees is the “Executive Order Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” (full text available here), being colloquially referred to as “Travel Ban 2.0” as the aim seems to be similar to the Travel Ban we saw during the first Trump Administration.
As in 2017, the Trump administration is setting the stage to justify travel bans and to avoid the legal challenges that plagued his initial versions of the Muslim ban which targeted nationals from mostly Muslim-majority countries. Within 60 days, the administration will identify nations with deficient vetting procedures that will be subject to a complete or partial travel ban justified under INA 212(f).
Enhanced vetting will be re-established at the baseline level that was in place at the end of the first Trump administration (January 19, 2021) and all resources available will be used to maximize the scrutiny of visa applicants and those who are already in the United States in lawful status. In addition, the Department of State and other agencies will evaluate all visa programs for national security and recommend actions based on that evaluation. More resources will be devoted to denaturalization operations and assimilation of immigrants—more stringent verification and screening of refugees and stateless persons.
The citizenships that were affected by the previous Travel Ban were Yemen, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Venezuela, North Korea, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. But the list may be different this time around, we will have to wait and see.
Analysis:
- The first Trump administration imposed extreme vetting procedures that were frequently unnecessary and resulted in severe delays to visa processing. The language of the new executive order indicates even more stringent vetting as it will look back four years and reevaluate adjudications.
- The stricter scrutiny on new applicants and those who have been in nonimmigrant status in the United States for many years will result in uncertainty and delays for their employers and families.
Thank you to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) for the information contained in this client alert.
You can access our previous Client Alerts here.
