Nationals of Seven Countries Banned from Entering the United States

This past weekend, US President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order banning citizens of Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Somalia from entering the US for at least the next 90 days, as well as suspending all refugee admission for at least the next 120 days. The broad scope of this Order encompassed all nationals of these countries, including green card holders from one of the seven banned countries, and dual citizens from one of the seven banned countries.

Official statements from the US Department of State and the contradictory actions of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have evidenced the confusion that still exists regarding the intentions expressed by this Order. While the Executive Order applies to green card holders on its face and green card holders have been subject to secondary examination and in some cases detention at ports of entry, the official stated policy of the US Department of Homeland Security is that green card holders are to be exempt from this ban. In a similar contradictory fashion, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed stated on a press conference this Sunday that Canadian citizens and permanent residents were also to be exempt from the ban, but no corroborating statement has been provided by any US government authority and CBP officers have thus far been willing to delay or detain Canadian citizens holding dual citizenship in a country subject to the ban.

At this time, it is not clear how this ban will be enforced moving forward, or whether it will be found to be valid in law. Its constitutionality has already been challenged numerous times, and many of these challenges have been successful in US Federal Court. Our law firm will continue to monitor this rapidly developing situation as it develops and we will endeavour to provide updates as soon as more information becomes available.