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US travel ban takes effect, Trump administration reverses policy on fiancés
US President Donald Trump's administration reversed a decision and said fiancés would be considered close family members and therefore allowed to travel to the United States as its revised travel ban took effect
The Supreme Court revived parts of Trump's travel ban on people from the six Muslim-majority countries
The United States implemented a modified version of Donald Trump’s travel ban on Thursday evening on people from six Muslim-majority, while reversing its order on fiancés, who it now considers to be close family members and therefore allowed to travel to the country.
On Monday, the Supreme Court revived parts of Trump's travel ban on people from the six Muslim-majority countries – namely Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – narrowing the scope of lower court rulings that had blocked parts of a 6 March executive order. According to the ruling, people without close family or business relationships in the US could be denied visas and barred entry.
The Trump administration had previously decided, on the basis of its interpretation of a US Supreme Court ruling, that grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and fiancés would be barred from obtaining visas while the ban was in place as they were not considered to be "bona fide" relations. However, the US State Department concluded "upon further review, fiancés would now be included as close family members," a State Department official told Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.
David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, called the situation “alarming,” “confusing” and “inhumane”.
“The banning of grandmothers – of unaccompanied children – from America’s shores is a disgrace,” Miliband said. “Doubly so when America is a breaking a promise we have made to safeguard them.”
Moments before the ban began at 20:00 Washington time (1:00am CET), it emerged that the state of Hawaii had asked a federal judge for clarification, requesting him to determine whether the Trump administration had interpreted the court's decision too narrowly.
Hawaii said in a court filing that the US government intended to violate the Supreme Court's instructions by improperly excluding from the United States people who actually have a close family relationship to US persons, echoing criticism from immigrant and refugee groups.
