President’s Trump’s revised executive order blocking travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States could land a damaging blow to global cooperation in scientific research and impede assemblies of the world’s top medical experts.
The executive order, signed March 6, bars citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from obtaining visas for 90 days and blocks refugees from the affected countries from entering the U.S. for 120 days. The new executive measure, which takes effect March 16, supersedes President Trump’s original Jan. 27 travel ban that has been blocked by federal courts.
The new order clarifies that citizens of the six countries who are legal permanent U.S. residents or who have current visas to enter the country are exempt from the travel prohibition.
The revised travel ban could disrupt the exchange of medical knowledge by barring foreign experts from traveling to medical and scientific conferences in the United States, and leaves the status of medical trainees from those countries in limbo, according to American Medical Association President Andrew W. Gurman, MD.
“Hundreds of physicians from six countries are subject to the revised executive order and have applied to U.S. training programs and requested visa sponsorship,” he said in a statement. “The new executive order leaves them in limbo and without an explicit waiver, these foreign physicians will be unable to provide care in the U.S. when training programs begin on July 1.”
The new order is already being challenged in court. On March 7, the state of Hawaii filed a lawsuit seeking to block the order, saying that it subjects a portion of Hawaii’s population to “discrimination and second-class treatment.”
When the original ban took effect, thousands of academics from around the world, including physicians, researchers, and professors, vowed to boycott U.S.-based conferences. A Google Docs petition started shortly after the ban was announced garnered more than 5,000 signatures by professionals acting in solidarity with those affected by the travel restrictions. The academicians who signed the petition said they would not attend international conferences in the United States until those restricted from participating could rejoin their colleagues and freely share their ideas.
The new executive order comes nearly 2 months after President Trump’s original travel ban caused nationwide protests and led to a series of legal challenges. The states of Washington and Minnesota, which sued President Trump over his original ban, argued that such a ban harms the teaching and research missions of their universities and prevents students and faculty from traveling for research and academic collaboration. In addition, the executive order restricts universities from hiring attractive candidates from countries affected by the ban, state officials said.
A federal court temporarily blocked the original travel ban on Feb. 3, a decision upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 9.
The new executive order excludes Iraq this time around and also removes language that had indefinitely banned Syrian refugees. In a March 6 memorandum, the White House said the purpose of the ban is to prevent “foreign nationals who may aid, support, or commit violent, criminal, or terrorist acts,” while the administration enhances the screening and vetting protocols and procedures for granting visas and admission to the United States.
“This nation cannot delay the immediate implementation of additional heightened screening and vetting protocols and procedures for issuing visas to ensure that we strengthen the safety and security of our country,” the memo states.
This article was updated March 8, 2017.
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