Executive Order 13780, signed by President Trump on March 6th after an earlier EO was thrown out by the courts, has also been delayed by court rulings, notes legal firm Freehill Hogan & Mahar. “Executive Order Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States” (13780) rescinded EO 13769 and introduced new restrictions on travel to the US from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Iraq was removed from the new EO on the grounds that it had made positive efforts against terrorism.
The new EO was scheduled to come into effect on March 16th, but the key provisions of EO 13780, which banned the issuance of new visas to nationals of the six designated countries for 90 days, have now been suspended by two Federal district court judges, one in Hawaii and the other in Maryland. A similar ruling is coioud be issued by the Federal judge in the State of Washington who struck down the original EO 13769.
The conflict being addressed is whether President Trump has properly exercised the authority granted to the President in the US Constitution to make foreign policy, including policies on immigration, or whether the temporary immigration ban amounts to religious discrimination, which is prohibited by the Constitution. The judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide temporary restraining order suspending Sections 2 and 6 of the EO, which sections stopped the issuance of visas to nationals of the six designated countries for 90 days and which suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days. The judge intends to set an expedited hearing to entertain arguments on whether the restraining order should be extended. The Trump Administration has stated that it will defend the EO. If the Hawaii judge extends the restraining order, and his ruling is appealed, the case would be heard by
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the suspension of the first immigration ban. The Maryland ruling only suspended that part of the EO which halted for 90 days the issuance of visas to citizens of the six designated Muslim majority countries.
The current suspensions of the EO means that crewmembers from the six affected countries can continue to apply for US visas, until such time as there is a final ruling on the validity of the EO. The EO did not prohibit entry into the US those crewmembers from the six countries who already held valid visas prior to March 16th, and that situation has not changed.
The legal firm noted that “shipowners and their crews from the six designated countries remain in a state of uncertainty, which will ultimately only be resolved by the conclusion of the various court proceedings, which could make their way to the US Supreme Court”. http://www.freehill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NYDOCS1-464391-v1-3_16_17_Client_Alerrt.pdf