On Trump's choice of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen-Criteria for selection clearly spelt out in Obama era legislation, but ignored by various experts "re-imagining" US law that binds Trump


by Ganesh Sahathevan

Much is being said of  President Trump's Executive Order  Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States or “Refugee/Muslim Ban” , but precious little about the legislation which empowers it.

Examples  of  "expert" commentary:
President Trump's Muslim ban excludes countries linked to his sprawling business empire


Trump left countries with high terror risk off his banned list


What the Obama era legislation which binds Trump's executive order actually says:


(A)In general
The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of State, shall evaluate program countries on an annual basis based on the criteria described in subparagraph (B) and shall identify any program country, the admission of nationals from which under the visa waiver program under this section, the Secretary determines presents a high risk to the national security of the United States.
(B)CriteriaIn evaluating program countries under subparagraph (A), the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of State, shall consider the following criteria:
(i)
The number of nationals of the country determined to be ineligible to travel to the United States under the program during the previous year.
(ii)
The number of nationals of the country who were identified in United States Government databases related to the identities of known or suspected terrorists during the previous year.
(iii)
The estimated number of nationals of the country who have traveled to Iraq or Syria at any time on or after March 1, 2011 to engage in terrorism.
(iv)
The capacity of the country to combat passport fraud.
(v)
The level of cooperation of the country with the counter-terrorism efforts of the United States.
(vi)
The adequacy of the border and immigration control of the country.
(vii)
Any other criteria the Secretary of Homeland Security determines to be appropriate.
(C)Suspension of designation
The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may suspend the designation of a program country based on a determination that the country presents a high risk to the national security of the United States under subparagraph (A) until such time as the Secretary determines that the country no longer presents such a risk.


In other words,an Executive Order aimed precisely at US visa waivers. The matter of jihadis from Saudi Arabia ,Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries are not dealt with in this executive order, but that does not mean it is not being dealt with at all.
Posters of this sort do nothing to tell us anything at all about the Executive Order.

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