As one of his first acts as President of the United States, President Joe Biden officially revoked Executive Order 13780 and Proclamations 9645, 9723, and 9983 on Jan. 21, 2021.

Often referred to as the “Muslim Travel Ban,” these policies that were passed in 2017 by the Trump administration forbade travel to the United States by individuals from predominately Muslim countries including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. 

This plan was later expanded due to a ruling by a 2018 Supreme Court ruling to include countries Venezuela and North Korea and again in 2020 to include African countries Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.

According to the official White House proclamation by former President Donald Trump, this order was put in place as a preventative for terrorism. 

“As President, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” said Trump. “I am committed to our ongoing efforts to engage those countries willing to cooperate, improve information-sharing and identity-management protocols and procedures, and address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks.”

However, this plan received great criticism. The plan was called things like “horrific,” “problematic,” and “xenophobic,” and immediately produced a Twitter explosion with trending hashtags like #MuslimBan, #TravelBan, and #NoBanNoWall.

In his official White House proclamation revoking the policy, President Biden also criticized the ban, referring to it as “a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all…They are just plain wrong.”

In addition to the revocation of the former policies, Biden’s new plan offers a second chance for those whose visas were denied under the ban. 

“Make no mistake,” said Biden. “Where there are threats to our Nation, we will address them…But we will not turn our backs on our values with discriminatory bans on entry into the United States.” 

For more information about Biden’s executive orders and more, go to unfspinnaker.com. 

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