Revised travel rules in effect on six nations

Visitors seeking new visas must prove close kin here

WASHINGTON -- A scaled-back version of President Donald Trump's travel ban took effect Thursday evening, stripped of provisions that raised protests and chaos at airports worldwide in January.

The new rules, the product of months of legal wrangling, aren't so much an outright ban as a tightening of already-tough visa policies affecting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries. Refugees are covered, too.

Administration officials predicted that implementation would be orderly. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Dan Hetlage said his agency expected "business as usual at our ports of entry."

Under the temporary rules, citizens from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen who already have visas will be allowed into the United States. But people from those countries who need new visas will have to prove that they have close family members living here or an established relationship with an entity like a school or business in the U.S.

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In guidance issued late Wednesday, the State Department said the family relationships would include a parent, spouse, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States. It does not include grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles.

Later Thursday, the State and Homeland Security departments had both expanded the range of relationships to include those engaged to be married.

Business or professional links must be "formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course rather than for the purpose of evading" the ban. Journalists, students, workers or lecturers who have valid invitations or employment contracts in the U.S. would be exempt from the ban. The exemption does not apply to those who seek a relationship with an American business or educational institution purely for the purpose of avoiding the rules.

The State Department said any relationship "must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading the E.O. [executive order]."

Refugees from any country will face similar requirements. But the U.S. has almost reached its quota of 50,000 refugees for the budget year that ends in September, having admitted 49,008 refugees as of Wednesday, and the new rules won't apply to the few remaining slots. With the Supreme Court set to consider the overall ban in October, the rules could change again.

Not everyone was immediately satisfied with the amended order. The state of Hawaii filed an emergency motion Thursday asking a federal judge to clarify whether the administration can enforce the ban on relatives -- such as grandparents, aunts or uncles -- not considered "bona fide" personal relationships under the new rules.

It's unclear to what degree the new rules will affect travel. Few people in most of the countries have the means for leisure travel, and those who do already face intensive screenings before being issued visas.

Much of the confusion in January, when Trump's first ban took effect, resulted from travelers with previously approved visas being kept off flights or barred entry on arrival in the United States. Immigration officials were instructed Thursday not to block anyone who has valid travel documents and is otherwise eligible to visit the U.S.

Trump, who made a tough approach to immigration a cornerstone of his election campaign, issued a ban on travelers from the six countries, plus Iraq, shortly after taking office in January. That ban also blocked refugees from any country. Trump said they were temporary measures needed to prevent terrorism until vetting procedures could be reviewed.

Opponents in January noted that visa and refugee vetting were already strict and said there was no evidence that refugees or citizens of those six countries posed a threat. They saw the ban as part of Trump's campaign promise to bar Muslims from entering the U.S.

Lower courts blocked the initial order and a later revised Trump order that was intended to overcome legal hurdles. The Supreme Court on Monday partially reinstated the revised ban but exempted travelers who could prove a "bona fide relationship" with a U.S. person or entity. The court offered only broad guidelines.

After the ruling, several nonprofit groups that help resettle refugees said they might claim a "bona fide" relationship that could allow some people to be admitted who otherwise would not qualify. But the State Department advised consular officials not to grant an exception "to an applicant who enters into a relationship simply to avoid the E.O. [executive order]: for example, a nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their inclusion in the E.O."

The State Department also said a hotel reservation, paid for or not, is not considered a bona fide relationship with an entity.

It was not clear how the State Department came up with its narrow definition of family, which was quickly criticized by some advocates and lawyers.

"Defining close family to exclude grandparents, cousins, and other relatives defies common sense," said Johnathan Smith, legal director of Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group that planned to send monitors Thursday night to Dulles International Airport, which serves the Washington, D.C., area.

Karen Tumlin, legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, said the rules "would slam the door shut on so many who have waited for months or years to be reunited with their families."

Preparing for battle

Human-rights groups Thursday prepared for new legal battles.

The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups challenging the ban, called the new criteria "extremely restrictive," "arbitrary" in their exclusions and designed to "disparage and condemn Muslims."

"We have thousands upon thousands of people who are in various stages of the process," said Eric Schwartz, head of Refugees International. "As a result of this executive order, their lives are put on hold. Instead of offering hope and opportunity to people to thrive in this country, we're giving them the back of our hands."

Refugee agencies argued in a letter sent Wednesday to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that their clients should be cleared to enter.

"The order stated that a bona fide relationship with an entity should be 'formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading EO-2,'" Hans van de Weerd, chairman of the Refugee Council USA, the coordinating body for agencies that handle resettlement, wrote in the letter, referring to the president's executive order. He added that refugee agencies accept only applicants who have already proven that they have "ties to the United States."

Amnesty International said it plans to send observers to airports in New York, Washington and Los Angeles to monitor how it the travel ban was being implemented.

"Separating families based on these definitions is simply heartless," said Naureen Shah, director of campaigns for Amnesty International USA, in a statement calling on Congress to end the restrictions. "It further proves the callous and discriminatory nature of Trump's Muslim ban."

The travel ban may have the most impact on Iranians. In 2015, the most recently available data, nearly 26,000 Iranians were allowed into the United States on visitor or tourist visas. Iranians made up the lion's share of the roughly 65,000 foreigners from the six countries who visited with temporary, or nonimmigrant, visas that year.

American journalist Paul Gottinger, said he and his Iranian fiancee applied for a visa nearly a year ago but are still waiting on a decision. Gottinger said they were to wed at a Japanese garden in his parents' home state of Minnesota this month but have postponed the ceremony until August because they had not yet received the visa.

Now, he expects they will have to delay again.

"Every twist and turn of the courts, we're holding our hearts, and our stomachs are falling to the floor," he said by phone from Turkey.

The new regulations are also affecting the wedding plans of Rama Issa-Ibrahim, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.

She is Syrian-American and had planned to get married this fall. While her father in Syria may be able to get a visa, her aunts and uncles may well be blocked.

"I would love for them to be at this wedding, and unfortunately, they aren't going to be able to be here," she said, adding that the ceremony will be postponed.

Information for this article was contributed by Carol Morello of The Washington Post; by Matthew Lee, Alicia A. Caldwell, Amy Taxin and Michael Noble of The Associated Press; and by Gardiner Harris, Ron Nixon and Michael D. Shear of The New York Times.

A Section on 06/30/2017

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