Donald Trump’s Immigration Ban: Four Facts You Need To Know

Donald Trump recently signed an executive order concerning immigration to the United States. Many are in an uproar and have taken to social media to express their concerns against this seemingly prejudiced ban. How this is currently playing out, however, is that certain people from these restricted countries are being held at airports across the United States for the time being, even though they have valid documentation.

Donald has said specifically that this executive order is not a ban against Muslim immigrants, nor is it about religion. Donald Trump denies any claims that this immigration ban is about religion, and stresses that it is about keeping the United States safe from terrorism. Here are the facts you need to know about this immigration ban.

1. Donald Trump’s immigration ban will not affect United States citizens. This executive order only applies to non-U.S. citizens, and only non-U.S. citizens from specific countries laid out in the ban. Natural-born citizens, as well as those that are naturalized, will not be immediately affected; family members without United States citizenship, however, could be. This immigration ban is not intended to affect those with dual citizenship if one of those citizenships is a United States citizenship.

2. The executive order will not affect green card holders. The main target of this immigration ban affects only those who are not United States citizens. On Sunday, Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, is quoted saying about the immigration ban, “We didn’t overrule the Department of Homeland Security, as far as green card holders moving forward, it doesn’t affect them.” Later, however, he was again asked if this ban affects green card holders, Priebus redacted his earlier statement saying, “Well, of course it does. If you’re traveling back and forth, you’re going to be subjected to further screening,” according to NBC News. Reince stated that it is up to the Customs and Border Patrol agent’s “discretionary authority” when people holding green cards from these countries come into the United States.

3. This immigration ban prevents immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Donald Trump wrote this immigration ban in order to keep out “radical Islamic terrorists.” The seven countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. The ban is for at least the next 90 days but this is likely just the first step towards a much broader order Donald Trump will later place on immigration.

Donald Trump stated, “We don’t want them here. We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people” according to The New York Times.

4. Donald Trump’s immigration ban has enacted the suspension of Syrian refugees indefinitely until further notice. “Prohibited travel will remain prohibited,” the Department of Homeland Security said, additionally stating that this immigration ban is “a first step towards re-establishing control over America’s borders and national security,” according to The New York Times. There are exceptions, however, for minority religions in this immigration ban. This means, for example, Christians immigrating from these places to the United States will not be affected. This also means that there is a priority placed for minority religion refugees from these countries. Muslim refugees from these countries, however, will be excluded.

Donald Trump’s main goal of this immigration ban is to prevent terrorist activity from the certain countries, stressing the importance of keeping America safe from these “terror prone” locations. This immigration ban will enact “extreme vetting” of immigrants from the aforementioned seven countries. It is unclear how many more will be added to the immigration ban list at this time.

[Featured Image by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images]