(The Center Square) – In addition to declaring an invasion at the southern border and declaring multiple national emergencies, President Donald Trump issued an order to protect Americans from foreign terrorists and other public safety threats.
This order directs federal agencies to implement a range of security procedures authorized by the US Constitution, Immigration and Nationality Act and United States Code.
Trump’s stated policy is for the federal government to protect American citizens “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”
To do this, federal agencies are tasked with strengthening the visa-issuance process to ensure that “aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests” by identifying them before they are admitted to the U.S. They will also ensure that those already released into the U.S. “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”
The order directs the secretary of State, attorney general, secretary of Homeland Security, and Director of National Intelligence to identify all resources to “ensure that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
This includes determining information needed from countries to verify identities of foreign nationals to ensure they don’t pose security or public-safety threats to better adjudicate visas, admission, or other benefits under the INA.
The order directs federal agencies to re-establish a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures for everyone seeking a visa or immigration benefit of any kind, particularly those coming from regions or nations with identified security risks.
They are also directed to provide a report within 60 days to identify countries where vetting and screening information “is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries,” in accordance with the INA.
They are also required to identify how many citizens from those countries entered or were admitted into the U.S., and DHS must then “take immediate steps to exclude or remove that alien” unless doing so “would inhibit a significant pending investigation or prosecution of the alien for a serious criminal offense or would be contrary to the national security interests of the United States.”
Within 30 days of the order, the agency heads much evaluate and adjust all existing regulations, policies, procedures, and provisions of the Foreign Service Manual, related to grounds of inadmissibility listed in the INA; ensure that sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent any refugee or stateless individual from being admitted to the U.S. without undergoing stringent identification verification; evaluate all visa programs “to ensure that they are not used by foreign nation-states or other hostile actors to harm the security, economic, political, cultural, or other national interests of the United States;” and provide other recommendations.
They are also instructed to identify “foreign nationals who have undermined or seek to undermine the fundamental constitutional rights of the American people, including, but not limited to, our Citizens’ rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, who preach or call for sectarian violence, the overthrow or replacement of the culture on which our constitutional Republic stands, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support for foreign terrorists.”
They are also instructed to evaluate programs designed to ensure lawful immigrants assimilate into the U.S. and recommend measures to “promote a unified American identity and attachment to the Constitution, laws, and founding principles of the United States;” and “protect the American people and our constitutional republic from foreign threats.”
