Only 6 percent of those subject to Trump travel ban granted U.S. waivers

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

POLITICS APRIL 4, 2019 / 7:06 PM / UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO

Exclusive: Only 6 percent of those subject to Trump travel ban granted U.S. waivers

Yeganeh Torbati
5 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government granted waivers to just 6 percent of visa applicants subject to its travel ban on a handful of countries during the first 11 months of the ban, new data reviewed by Reuters shows.

Trump administration officials have pointed to the waiver process embedded in the travel ban as proof it was not motivated by animus toward Muslims, as critics have charged, but rather serves to protect the United States.

In June 2018, after legal challenges defeated earlier iterations of the ban, the Supreme Court upheld a revised version and wrote in its majority opinion that the waiver program supported the government’s claims that the ban served “a legitimate national security interest.”

But new data shows that only 6 percent of people subject to the travel ban were ultimately granted waivers during the first 11 months of the ban’s full implementation.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-visas-exclusive/exclusive-only-6-percent-of-those-subject-to-trump-travel-ban-granted-u-s-waivers-idUSKCN1RG30X

[SunSeeker]

1. I am sure those denied waivers included people who risked their lives for our troops.

This is so tragic and infuriating.