President Donald Trump's new travel ban will likely face legal challenges — but it may withstand them more than a 2017 travel ban that he signed during his first term.
The new ban completely restricts travel for most foreigners from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It partially restricts travel from people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
In a video posted by the White House, President Trump said, "We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm."
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The president cited national security concerns as the reason behind the bans, and he highlighted this week's terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
Notably, the suspect in that attack is an Egyptian national, and Egypt is not among the countries impacted by the ban. The order does say administration officials will review the practices and procedures by which Egypt handles its screening process for people coming to the U.S.
The new ban is similar to one the president signed during his first days in office in 2017, but it has notable differences. That ban was protested for targeting majority-Muslim countries and faced multiple lawsuits before the Supreme Court eventually upheld a version of it.
"During his first turn the travel ban sort of took on several different incarnations as each one was enjoined by courts," said Emily Berman, a law professor at the University of Houston. "Then they would go back to the drawing board and make adjustments, and then ultimately the Supreme Court upheld the third version."
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The new ban has exemptions for certain groups, including lawful permanent residents of the U.S., existing visa holders, and athletes and personnel traveling for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. It also specifically notes why each country is on the list.
In the case of Libya, the order says, "There is no competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents in Libya. The historical terrorist presence within Libya's territory amplifies the risks posed by the entry into the United States of its nationals."
"It definitely stands on firmer ground this time," Berman said. "The Trump administration seems to have taken some lessons from its litigation over the first version of its travel ban and followed some of the requirements that the Supreme Court seemed to rely on in upholding the third version of that original travel ban."
The new ban could still face legal challenges, particularly due to its reliance on a government report about visa overstays, according to Julia Gelatt, the Associate Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. But she says overall it has a better chance of holding up in court.
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"The travel ban seems to reflect some of the changes that were made in response to legal challenges last time," she said. "The set of people who could present a challenge is probably smaller, and the justification for this ban may be able to pass muster in the courts."
Immigration advocacy groups are already criticizing the ban.
"These travel bans do nothing to make us safer or more prosperous: they harm our economy and indiscriminately punish immigrants who otherwise qualify to come to the United States legally," Jeremy Robbins, the executive director of the American Immigration Council, said in a statement.
The travel ban is set to take effect Monday, and President Trump said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.
