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President Donald Trump has imposed new, major travel restrictions on immigrants from seven countries — Chad, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — in a revision of his original travel ban, which had drawn sharp opposition from Silicon Valley.
Under the new policy, those countries’ citizens are subject to broad limits on coming to the United States, while an eighth country, Venezuela, also is the target of some more limited travel restrictions. The system replaces the president’s previous, widely opposed directive, which took aim at immigrants and refugees from six Muslim-majority countries — though most of those governments are still covered under Trump’s new approach.
The new restrictions are indefinite in length and vary by country — and could be expanded to include others in the future. In the eyes of the Trump administration, its policy is an attempt to force foreign powers to improve their security, share more information with the U.S. government and dodge some of the legal repercussions that plagued the president’s previous efforts on immigration.
Trump’s last order, issued in March, drew legal challenges supported by tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which argued that it was discriminatory and unlawful. The case now rests in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Those companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Under the March executive order, though, Trump had until Sunday to offer an update. The White House stressed that the eight countries in its cross hairs can be removed from the list if they “improve their information-sharing practices” with the U.S.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
