Immigration order: Trump to drop Iraq from “banned list”

President Donald Trump is to sign a revised executive order to “clarify who is covered” under a policy that halted entry to the U.S. from several Muslim countries, White House Adviser, Kellyanne Conway said on Monday.


Conway said that there would be “a new executive order” to take effect March 16, and that Iraq was no longer included “based on their enhanced screening and reporting measures.”

The document would replace an order in late January that temporarily banned tourist, immigration and most other entries from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were the former countries that were affected by the initial order.

The order caused travellers to be stranded at different international airports around the world and set off a wave of protests. It was later blocked by a court.

The January order also suspended the U.S. refugee programme for 120 days and indefinitely blocked refugees from Syria.

Under the new order, Syrian refugees “are treated the way all refugees are,” and it makes “much clearer if you have travel docs, if you actually have a visa. “If you are a legal permanent resident, you are not banned under this particular executive action,” Conway said.

Earlier on Monday in Baghdad, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal said the ministry voiced “deep relief” at press reports that Iraq would not be on the new banned list.

He described the anticipated move as “an important step in the right direction in order to consolidate the strategic alliance between Baghdad and Washington in many areas.

He pointed out that the relationship between the two countries most importantly the war on terrorism.