Note: The courts have issued a temporary stay on the order and it looks to be largely based on potential discriminatory effects.

As mentioned earlier, rather than continue the fight in court, the Trump administration would file a new executive order regarding immigration. Today they announced the revised order and there are a few notable changes. The biggest one entailed the removal of visa and green card holders from the temporary travel ban. The first order ensnared this group and it was a major point of contention in arguments before the court. This change effectively ends that argument and reduces avenues for legal challenges. It also removed Iraq from the list of countries targeted, reportedly due to senior officials lobbying efforts, but also possibly in reaction to negative coverage on how the ban included American allies from the Iraqi war. Finally, it did not designate Syria for an indefinite refugee ban, instead treating it the same as the other targeted countries. Beyond that, there are a few minor changes, such as a 10 day implementation period, but the rest it remains intact. Travelers from Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Sudan will be barred from apply for a travel visa for 90 days and refugees from these countries will be barred for 120 days.

Will these changes satisfy critics? Of course not. Aside from the political reasons, the order’s opponents still claim that it is discriminatory towards Muslims and one of the court rulings that halted the order was based on this claim. It was largely sourced from campaign statements, even though Trump later reversed himself on many of these. This argument will find defenders and is not completely without merit, but according to one legal perspective, looking at presidential actions through the lens of the campaign carries serious risks.

I was of the opinion that the first order was largely legal, and the second seems to have a much sturdier legal foundation so it will be an uphill climb for its opponents. That said, the necessity or effectiveness of such a pause is still far from proven. Unless major changes to vetting requirements are done in this period, then this will look like a play to his base rather than a serious effort to address a national security threat.