Trump: New immigration order to be unveiled next week

Opponents of Trump's 'Muslim ban' hail announcement of new executive order as a 'victory' over a president accused of avoiding defeat in the courts.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

17 February, 2017

Donald Trump said the new travel ban will be 'tailored' to the court ruling [Getty]

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will issue a revised version of his executive order next week banning citizens of seven predominantly-Muslim countries and all refugees from travelling to the US.

The announcement was accompanied by news that the US Department of Justice will not appeal the 9th Circuit Court's decision against Trump's 'Muslim Ban'.

"We had a bad court, got a bad decision," Trump said of the court rulings.

He said the new order would address the issues raised by the court over the previous one.

"The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision," Trump said.

According to an unnamed congressional aide cited by Reuters last week, the new order may explicitly exclude green card holders or permanent residents.

The decision to issue a new executive order will mean further uncertainty for the legal action taken against the president for his executive order on immigration.

While Trump has been badgered by appeals court proceedings, a Seattle federal judge on Wednesday also ordered that both Washington state and the Justice Department submit their initial plans for discovery in the case by next month.

Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson said he intends to depose Trump officials about their motives in instating the controversial travel ban. This could assist courts in deciding whether the order violated the constitution, which protects individuals against discrimination based on religion.

Thursday's announcement of a new executive order was received by Ferguson as a victory for those opposing Trump's stringent immigration policies.

"Today's court filing by the federal government recognises the obvious - the president's current executive order violates the Constitution," he said in a statement. "President Trump could have sought review of this flawed order in the Supreme Court but declined to face yet another defeat."

Trump has maintained that his directive was necessary in order to protect the US from Islamist militants.

The swift implementation of the January 27 order, however,
thrust the US immigration system into chaos and received a huge international backlash, including from businesses that rely heavily on immigrant expertise.