Trump’s “Muslim Ban” First Ordered by Obama

January 29th, 2017

Awake Goy

Anti-Trump protestors have egg on their faces after it emerged that the list of Muslim countries whose citizens have been barred by Executive Order from entering the U.S. was based on a list signed into law by former President Barack Obama in December 2015.

The Obama law, titled the “Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act” (H. R.158), specifically barred nationals from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Sudan from entering the U.S. without first submitting to interrogation and specialist vetting—including face-to-face interviews in their home countries before setting off.

The law placed restrictions on the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which normally allowed citizens from 38 pre-designated countries—mostly European nations—who are visiting the United States for less than 90 days to enter without a visa.

Under the Obama amendment, travelers in the following categories were no longer eligible to travel or be admitted to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP):

Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited exceptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes in the service of a VWP country).

Nationals of VWP countries who are also nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria.

According to the law’s description on the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s website, additional questions were added to the pre-travel “Electronic System for Travel Authorization” or ESTA application questionnaire, effective February 2016:

Have you traveled to, or been present in, Iraq, Syria, Iran, or Sudan on or after March 1, 2011?
Have you ever been issued a passport (or national identity card for travel) by any other country?”
Are you now a citizen or national of any other country?
Have you ever been a citizen or national of any other country?

Based on responses to the above questions, ESTA applicants are directed to answer additional questions concerning travel to Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Sudan and potential dual nationality.

In February 2016, the Obama administration added Libya, Somali, and Yemen to the list of countries one could not have visited, even though dual citizens of those countries who had not traveled there had access to the Visa Waiver Program. Dual citizens of Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and Iran were still ineligible.

At the initial signing of the restrictions, foreigners who would normally be deemed eligible for a visa waiver were denied if they had visited Iran, Syria, Sudan, or Iraq in the past five years or held dual citizenship from one of those countries.

In other words, it was the Obama administration which restricted visa waivers for the seven Muslim countries—Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen—and Trump’s ban is merely a rigorous enforcement of the Obama legislation.

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