Remembering the ‘Muslim Ban’

The first week of Trump’s first term offers clues to what we can expect this time

Sit-in held at LAX on January 28, 2017 to protest the Trump administration’s executive order banning travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. Photo credit: Marcy Winograd, via Creative Commons License, Wikimedia Commons.

On January 17, 2017, seven days after taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13769, later known as the “Muslim travel ban.” Its main provision immediately prohibited travel to the United States from seven* Muslim-majority nations for 90 days, suspended the admission of people from Syria, indefinitely, and suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) entirely for 120 days.

Drafted and implemented without input from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department — the agencies primarily responsible for enforcing it — federal officials were caught by surprise and chaos ensued.

People with previously approved visas — including permanent residence permits — were denied boarding on flights to the U.S., and some people who were already en route when the order was signed were then denied entry and detained as security threats at U.S. airports.

Students, visiting professors, and employees of U.S. companies were all among the people caught up in the executive order’s net.