Trump weighs options as travel ban nears its expiration date

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump is weighing the next iteration of his controversial travel ban, which could include new restrictions on travelers from additional countries.

Trump’s ban on visitors from six Muslim-majority nations is set to expire Sunday, 90 days after it took effect.

The Department of Homeland Security has recommended the president impose new, more targeted restrictions to replace the blanket ban imposed in the March 6 executive order. The restrictions could vary by country, officials said.

“The acting secretary has recommended actions that are tough and that are tailored, including restrictions and enhanced screening for certain countries,” Miles Taylor, counselor to the secretary of Homeland Security, told reporters in a conference call Friday.

Officials refused to say how many countries – and which countries – might be affected, insisting the president had yet to make a final decision on how to proceed.

The president is expected to sign a proclamation codifying the changes once he’s made a decision. The recommendations were first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Trump’s ban, which went into effect in June following a round of legal challenges, has applied to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who lacked a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national-security adviser, said Sunday that the president was weighing new restrictions in an effort to keep the American people safe.