President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday that established new vetting enhancements for refugee admissions. The 120-day refugee travel ban upheld by the Supreme Court came to an end the same day.
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement, the enhancements include “increased data collection to more thoroughly investigate applicants, better information sharing between agencies to identify threat actors, and new training procedures to strengthen screener ability to detect fraud and deception.”
The executive order and announcements Tuesday reflect recommendations from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, DHS Acting Secretary Elaine Duke, and Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence. Despite the lifting of the travel ban, a memo from the three officials notes “concerns regarding the admission of nationals of, and stateless persons who last habitually resided in, 11 particular countries previously identified as posing a higher risk to the United States through their designation on the Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) list.”
While not named in the executive order or in the memo from the secretaries, Reuters reports that “SAOs were required for most adult male refugees who were nationals of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as well as Palestinians who lived in those countries.”
According to the memo, the departments will work with law enforcement to review the SAO countries over the next 90 days and “determine what additional safeguards, if any, are necessary to ensure that the admission of refugees from these countries of concern does not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.”
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