SALEM -- President Donald Trump signed a new version of his controversial travel ban Monday, and in justifying the revised policy cited a foiled bomb plot in Oregon.

Trump's executive order temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program and bans travel into the country from six majority-Muslim nations. Its first section outlines the administration's reasoning for the ban and singles out a Somali-American's failed 2010 plot to detonate a car bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Portland as a reason some immigrants "proved to be threats to our national security."

Mohamed Mohamud, who was born in Somalia, brought to the U.S. as a child refugee and later attained citizenship, was convicted in 2014 of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his ill-fated bombing plot. The car he thought was packed with explosives was in reality full of dummy bombs given to him by undercover federal agents. Mohamud was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.

"Given the foregoing, the entry into the United States of foreign nationals who may commit, aid, or support acts of terrorism remains a matter of grave concern," the order says.

Former U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton, who prosecuted Mohamud, told Patch.com that Mohamud's "radicalization had precisely nothing to do with his refugee status" and went on to say that the refugee community assisted federal investigators.

Mohamed Mohamud

After describing Mohamud's case, Trump's executive order goes on to say that some 300 people who entered the U.S. as refugees are the subjects of federal counterterrorism investigations.

The order then revokes Trump's first travel ban and supplants it with a narrower one. It forgoes banning travel into the U.S. from Iraq, but affects would-be travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A 90-day travel restriction from those countries does not apply to people with already approved visas or U.S. green cards.

Trump's order also halts the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, but allows entry to refugees already approved for travel into the country.

Oregon's Democratic members of Congress and the state Legislature reacted to the executive order much as they had when the first one was signed: with contempt.

"Just like the old ban, the new ban makes our country less safe," said U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley. "Giving ISIS propaganda while 'solving' a problem that the Department of Homeland Security itself says doesn't exist is, to put it diplomatically, unwise."

U.S. Sen Ron Wyden said the new order is "little more than a warmed-over rehash of the original."

"It remains a barely disguised religious ban that will do absolutely nothing to protect our country," Wyden said.

Trump's new travel ban is "immoral, xenophobic and dangerous" and "a betrayal of American and Oregonian values," said Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, during a speech to the state House on Tuesday.

Gov. Kate Brown issued her own executive order following Trump's first travel ban, which strengthened the state's legal protection of immigrants. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum also made the state a partner in lawsuits challenging the ban. No such actions have been taken again in response to Trump's new executive order, which comes into effect on March 16.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com; 503-221-8209