IMMIGRATION/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration said Monday [1-29-18] it was resuming refugee admissions from 11 countries deemed national-security risks, while adding additional screening measures for them. Senior administration officials said the new vetting would include more independent interviews of refugee applicants and their families, but gave no other details.
The decision comes at a time when refugee arrivals are at a low point, partly due to a near-total suspension of admissions from these nations, including places such as Iraq and Syria that have produced a large number of refugees in recent years.
Last summer, the administration suspended the refugee program as part of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, citing the need to review vetting standards. In the fall, it announced tougher refugee screening and resumed admissions for most of the world. Nationals of 11 nations, however, were to be admitted only on a case-by-case basis.
The result was that admissions from those countries plummeted… The 11 countries include Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Syria, which account for the bulk of refugees in this group, as well as Egypt, Libya, Mali, North Korea, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen, according to two people familiar with the list, which isn’t public.
This list comprises the countries that trigger higher security screenings called Security Advisory Opinions and existed prior to the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it hoped to regularly review the list, which was last updated in 2015.”
-Laura Meckler, “U.S. to Resume Admitting Refugees From 11 Countries,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 29, 2018 06:18pm