US President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13769 on 27 January 2017. After issuing controversial orders on healthcare, international agreements, building a wall on the Mexico-US border, abortion, and clean energy, Trump issued an order on immigration that has raised eyebrows around the world and precipitated further massive protests in the United States.

The executive order initially imposed a travel ban on people from seven countries in the Middle-east. Following chaos, legal challenges and massive protests, the initial ban was revoked. A second ban that was relatively refined and included six countries was issued on 6 March. Less than two weeks later, a US District Court struck down even the redrafted order.

On 26 June 2017, the US Supreme Court reinstated key provisions of the ban, allowing it to partially take effect. The apex court will hear the case in October and decide whether to allow the ban to take effect in its entirety ot to strike it down completely.

What are the essential provisions of Trump’s executive order?

The executive order is titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”.

It bans entry into the United States of citizens from seven countries in the Middle-east. These countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It will be in effect for a duration of 90 days for all these countries except Syria, for which it will be in force indefinitely. The order also suspends the US refugee admissions programme for 120 days. The travel ban took effect immediately. It affects 134 million people from the seven countries, all of which are Muslim-majority countries. After initial confusion, the Trump administration clarified that Green Card holders were exempt from the ban; additionally, there are some case-by-case exceptions. A lawsuit was filed against the order by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The lawsuit was partially successful. Federal courts in Brooklyn and Boston suspended parts of the order, providing temporary relief to those affected. Protests erupted across the US against Trump’s order, with crowds especially intense at airports. There are widespread allegations that the travel ban is, in fact, a Muslim ban, though the US government has denied these allegations. During his campaign for the Presidency, Trump had called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, citing national security concerns. Many have viewed the developments of the past few days as a constitutional crisis – the first faced by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump has reiterated his intentions to secure America’s borders and has insisted that the ban is “working out very nicely”. What is Trump’s argument for the travel ban?

The order is self-explanatory. It reads: “In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles … It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks in the United States, and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

Why only these seven countries?

The US government has deemed that the level of terrorist threat to the US is deemed maximum in the seven countries mentioned in the executive order.

Also, contrary to popular belief or media hysteria, these seven countries were not chosen by the Trump administration. The same list was drawn as far back as February 2016 by the Department of Homeland Security: “The Department of Homeland Security today announced that it is continuing its implementation of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 with the addition of Libya, Somalia, and Yemen as three countries of concern, limiting Visa Waiver Program travel for certain individuals who have traveled to these countries.”

Therefore, the fact that the Middle-eastern countries where Trump has business interests (like Egypt and Saudi Arabia) are not included in the ban despite having anti-American elements is interesting to note but also irrelevant.

In the redrafted executive order, Iraq was dropped from the list of countries from where foreign nationals would be denied entry to the United States.

How will the order impact America’s refugee intake?

Regarding the admission of refugees under the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), Trump’s order stated: “I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.”

America’s contributions to mitigating the Syrian refugee crisis have already been criticised as…