WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is delaying until next week issuing a new version of his order restricting immigration and banning travel to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a White House official said Wednesday.
Trump had said that a revamped executive order, tailored to address legal issues that blocked his original travel ban, would be out this week. The White House official, who wasn't authorized to discuss internal deliberations, didn't give a reason for the delay.
Trump's Jan. 27 executive order stopping all refugee resettlement in the U.S. and travel into the country from seven nations was blocked by a federal judge in Seattle. The Trump administration lost an attempt to reverse the temporary order when a federal appeals court sided against it.
"The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider a very, very bad decision," Trump said at a news conference a week ago. "We can tailor the order to the decision to get just as much."
The original order barred citizens of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya or Sudan from entering the U.S. for 90 days.
The administration on Tuesday outlined a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants that officials said would result in the swift deportation of many more people without court hearings and target migrants charged with crimes or thought to be dangerous, not just convicts.
Trump said the new directive will address legal concerns raised in Washington state, Minnesota and elsewhere about the original order.
That order, which was quickly implemented, caused chaos at airports around the world as visa holders heading to the United States were pulled off planes or turned around upon arrival in the U.S.
Americans were deeply divided over the order, which was condemned by prominent U.S. companies and allies.
Trump criticized the court in tweets, including one that read: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"
