Trump’s ‘full suspension’ on visitors from several countries delayed

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office requesting top officials’ recommendations on what new visa restrictions should apply and to which specific countries. USA Today reported that the request was to be finished by March 21, which has now passed.
• State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the department is now working on that order but did not say when work on the request would finish.
• Trump modeled the so-called travel ban after the one he imposed in his first administration, which involved seven countries with Muslim-majority populations.

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A travel ban to bar entry into the United States by people from countries that raise potential national security questions appears to be on hold. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that requested recommendations on what new visa restrictions should be applied and to which specific countries by March 21.

When was the order supposed to be finished?

The order involves the secretary of state, the director of national intelligence, the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security. They are to come up with recommendations and a list of countries that would be subject to restrictions on entering the United States.

Trump gave his top officials 60 days to submit a report “identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension of the admission of nationals from those countries.”

Is this the first travel ban by Trump?

USA Today reported that Iran, Russia and Venezuela are all under consideration for a full or partial travel restriction to the U.S.

Trump modeled the order after the travel ban he enacted in his first administration. At the time, he issued bans on seven Muslim-majority countries. After court challenges, the Supreme Court upheld the order in 2018, and the ban went into effect.

What happens next?

At a State Department press briefing on Monday, March 31, spokeswoman Tammy Bruce called March 21 a target date that no longer applies. She said the State Department is acting on executive orders and working on restrictions, deciding whether or not countries meet the standard of security and vetting that is required to enter the United States.

She did not give a date for when that work might be done.