Trump executive order: White House stands firm over travel ban

The Trump administration is standing firm over its ban 

on immigration from seven countries despite court

 rulings and mass protests against it.

In a statement, President Trump said visas would once 
again be issued once "the most secure policies" were in
 place, and denied it was a Muslim ban.

The move has been widely condemned.

Sixteen state attorneys general have said the order is
unconstitutional. Several federal judges have
 temporarily halted the deportation of visa holders.

Mr Trump's executive order , signed on Friday, halted 
the entire US refugee programme for 120 days, 
indefinitely banned Syrian refugees, and suspended
 all nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Those who were already mid-flight were detained on
 arrival - even if they held valid US visas or other 
immigration permits. It is not known how many 
others were turned away at airports overseas as they
 tried to board flights to the US.


Thousands gathered at airports around the country to
 protest on Saturday, including lawyers who offered
 their services for free to those affected.

Further demonstrations were held on Sunday,
 including protests outside the White House and 
Trump Tower in New York.


Who is affected by the ban?

As well as the ban on all refugees, travellers who 
have nationality or dual nationality of Iran, Iraq, Libya, 
Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are not permitted
 to enter the US for 90 days, or be issued an immigrant 
or non-immigrant visa.

This includes those who share dual nationality with 
allied countries, including the UK, although Canada
 has been told its dual nationals are not affected.

But there remains much confusion.

The UK foreign office put out a statement saying that 
only those dual nationals travelling from one of the 
blacklisted seven countries would be subject to extra
 checks - those travelling between the UK and US would 
not be affected.

However, one Scottish veterinary student - who travels 
on an Iranian passport - was unable to fly home from
 her holiday in Costa Rica because she was told her
 transit visa for the US was no longer valid.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said US green
-card holders - legal residents - would also not be affected, 
but some have been detained since the order came
 into effect.

Mr Trump tweeted early on Sunday that the US
 needed "extreme vetting, NOW" but later, in a statement,
 tried to offer more reassuring words, saying: 
"This is not about religion - this is about terror and keeping
 our country safe.

"We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we
 are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most
 secure policies over the next 90 days," he said.

Mr Priebus rejected criticism that the implementation 
of the order had been chaotic, and said only 109 people, 
out of 325,000 travelling, had been detained and
 "most of those people were moved out".

"We've got a couple of dozen more that remain and I 
would suspect that as long as they're not awful people 
that they will move through before another half a day 
today," he told US media on Sunday.

But they have failed to allay concern among some in 
their Republican party. The Republican chair of the US
 Senate Foreign Relations committee, Senator Bob
 Corker, said the executive order had been "poorly implemented", particularly for green-card holders, and the "administration should make appropriate revisions".

Democratic Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said 
the US now appeared "less humanitarian, less safe, 
less American" and said the Democrats would introduce legislation to overturn it.

Ali worked for three years as an interpreter for the US 
Army and gained admittance to the US through a Special Immigrant Visa.

He now has a green card, and returned to Iraq for his 
father'snfuneral, only to be delayed for hours for
 questioning at Dulles.

"We are not terrorists. We are not bad people," said Ali.
 "It's so hard. I hope they will change their minds on this position."


Legal minds have their say

In a joint statement, 16 attorneys general, from states including California, New York and Pennsylvania, said 
they would "use all of the tools of our offices to fight this unconstitutional order" and, until it was struck down, 
would "work to ensure that as fewnpeople as possible 
suffer from the chaotic situation that it has created".

Late on Saturday, federal Judge Ann Donnelly, in New 
York, ruled against the removal from the US of people
 with approved refugee applications, valid visas, and 
"other individuals... legally authorised to enter the United States".

She was ruling on a case brought on behalf of two Iraqi 
men with links to the US military who were detained at
 JFK Airport in New York, who were later released.


Elsewhere in the US:

In Boston, a judge decided two Iranian nationals, both
university professors, should be released from detention 
at Logan International Airport

An order issued in Virginia banned, for seven days, 
the deportation of green-card holders held at Dulles 
Airport and ordered the authorities to allow access to lawyers

A Seattle judge issued an emergency stay of removal from
the US for two people

The Department of Homeland Security has said it will continue to enforce the measures .

History will judge the long-term impact of Mr Trump's
 Friday afternoon immigration order, but his early praise 
for its implementation will not easily be forgotten.

"It's working out very nicely," he said in a brief response
 to a question on Saturday afternoon. On the ground at
 major US airports, things weren't going quite so nicely, however.

Criticism of Mr Trump's decision has been growing
 louder outside the US.

Canada is offering temporary residence to those
 stranded there because of the US order, the
 immigration minister said. Prime Minister Justin 
Trudeau earlier tweeted that Canada welcomed "those
 fleeing persecution, terror and war".

Iran is threatening a reciprocal ban on US citizens
 entering  the country. Similar comments came out
 of Iraq, with whom the US is working to drive IS out of
 Mosul.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said "even the necessary, determined fight against terrorism does not 
justify placing people of a certain origin or belief under 
general suspicion".

A spokesperson for UK PM Theresa May said she
 "did not agree" with the restrictions, and French
 independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "I stand with the people fleeing war and 
persecution."