New Trump travel ban: Nationals from six Muslim-majority countries to be barred from entering US
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
Donald Trump has signed a revised executive order which will temporarily ban nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
A new executive order, signed on Monday and set to take effect from March 16, will prevent citizens from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen entering the US for 90 days.
The US will also halt its refugee admissions programme for the next four months as the government reviews security procedures.
Mr Trump, whose original travel ban was suspended by the Supreme Court, has decided to drop Iraq from the list of affected countries.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the concession was made after Iraq agreed to intensified vetting of its citizens.
The new travel ban means that people from the affected countries who are outside the US and without a valid visa from March 16 onwards will not be permitted to enter the country.
Mr Trump's original travel ban proposal, issued by executive order in January, was met with widespread criticism - with many claiming it targeted Muslims.
A temporary suspension of the order was upheld by the US federal appeals court unanimously, and again later by the Supreme Court.
The President warned he would look to issue a new travel ban, and even threatened to take the matter to court.
Mr Trump's new order appears to have made some concessions, including dropping Iraq from the list of banned countries.
A DHS statement revealed that the Middle-Eastern country had, in turn, agreed to allow increased US vetting of its citizens applying for a visa.
The Iraqi government welcomed the move, saying it represented a "positive message" about future relations between the two countries.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described the order as a "vital measure for strengthening our national security".
"To our allies and partners around the world, please understand this order is part of our ongoing efforts to eliminate vulnerability that radical Islamist terrorists canand will exploit for destructive ends," Mr Tillerson said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the order allowed for an "enhanced straining and vetting process" to be put in place.
Mr Sessions described three of the banned countries as "state sponsors of terrorism", while branding the others as "safe havens for terrorists countries".
Often critical of Mr Trump, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham praised the new ban and said she expected it to withstand legal challenges.
Washington's attorney general said they would be "carefully reviewing" the order.
The DHS said that the US had "the world’s most generous immigration system" which had been "repeatedly exploited by terrorists and other malicious actors who seek to do us harm".
Revealing the details of the new ban, the DHS said: "In order to ensure that the US Government can conduct a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the national security risks posed from our immigration system, the Executive Order imposes a 90-day suspension of entry to the United States of nationals of certain designated countries—countries that were designated by Congress and the Obama Administration as posing national security risks with respect to visa-free travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program."
The statement said that the order had been sought to ensure those entering the country "do not bear malicious intent" towards the US.
"This Executive Order ensures that we have a functional immigration system that safeguards our national security," the statement read.
During the 90-day suspension period, the DHS will review how it can in future prevent "terrorist or criminal infiltration" by foreign nationals.
Additionally, a "country-by-country" review of identity and security information will be carried out by DHS.
The statement conceded, however, that those from the banned countries applying for a US visa would be considered on a "case-by-case basis" in exceptional circumstances.
This would include cases where a ban would cause "undue hardship" or if it was proved that an individual's entry would not pose a security threat.
Mr Trump's new ban also means that the US's refugee admissions programme will be halted for the next 120 days.
During that time the DHS will review screening procedures "to ensure refugees admitted in the future do not pose a security risk to the United States".
Wajahat Ali, a Muslim American who grew up in California after his parents emigrated to the US from Pakistan, told ITV News the ban was in effect "a Muslim ban with six Muslim-majority countries".
"He removed the religious minority exception for refugees so it doesn’t seem it's a Muslim ban...but it's a Muslim ban," he said.
“According to counter terrorism experts and Trump's own intelligence (DHS), this Muslim ban will be ineffective. Last week DHS did an assessment where they found that country of origin is an unlikely indicator of a threat.
"Counter-terrorism experts say this will be counter-productive because it's essentially saying Muslims are the threat. Also it helps the most successful recruitment and propaganda of ISIS which is that the West is at war with Islam.”
Mr Ali, a lawyer and playwright who wrote the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post-9/11 America, questioned why countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE were not included in the ban if 9/11 was being used as justification for it.