U.S. President Donald Trump signed a new executive order banning refugees and immigrants from several Muslim majority countries on Monday ... and protests quickly erupted across the country.
Although the new ban has taken a few steps back from the original, activists, politicians and many ordinary Americans are still upset by the president's decision. They say the ban still directly targets Muslims in an unconstitutional manner.
"The fundamental truth of this new order, like the old one, remains unchanged: The president promised to ban Muslims from the United States, and the ban is his attempt to make good on that unconstitutional and indefensible goal," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a blog post, calling on Americans to protest the executive order.
Across the country, Americans have already begun protesting. Several rallies have moved forward and many others are planned for this week. On Monday night, protestors rallied against the ban outside the White House in Washington D.C.
Prominent Muslim Americans have responded to the new ban
America's first-ever Muslim congressman shared his thoughts
A very important point
It's still a Muslim ban
Trump really, really wants to ban Muslims
A press release from Dec. 7, 2015, which is still on Trump's website, specifically states: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
Trump believes the revised order will stand up to legal challenges
The revised order, which comes into effect on March 16, drops Iraq from the list but continues to ban immigrants from Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and Syria from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. It also suspends the entry of all refugees into the U.S. for 120 days.
Citizens of the six banned countries who are already legal permanent residents in the U.S. or have valid visas to enter the country will be excluded. The previous executive order banned Iraq along with the other countries, blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely from entering the U.S. and even barred those with valid visas from entering the country, including individuals who had lived and worked legally in the U.S. for many years.
Administration officials say the new ban will overcome the legal challenges made against the original order. Trump’s original ban was signed on Jan. 27. It was officially blocked on Feb. 9, when a federal appeals court refused to reinstate the ban after it had been frozen by a federal judge.
