President Donald Trump has said he may sign a "brand
new" executive order to revive his travel ban - a day after an appeals
court ruled it should remain suspended.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump said
his administration has "a lot of options" to achieve its aim of
restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
One of those options might involve rewriting the
controversial executive order, or replacing it with a new one, to sidestep the
legal issues which have caused the travel ban to become held up in the courts.
Mr Trump said it is likely that "very little"
would be changed in a second executive order, and hinted that it could be
signed as early as Monday or Tuesday.
"We need speed for reasons of security. So it could
very well be that we do that," the President added during the surprise
visit to the press cabin, where he was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.
Green card holders or permanent residents from the seven
affected countries may be excluded from the travel ban if the decree is
revised, according to a congressional aide.
A White House official had initially suggested that the
Trump administration was not planning to ask the Supreme Court to overturn
Thursday's ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
But Reince Priebus, the White House's chief of staff, later
contradicted this by saying a Supreme Court fight remains a possibility -
adding: "Every single court option is on the table.
"And, in addition to that, we're pursuing executive
orders right now that we expect to be enacted soon that will further protect
Americans from terrorism."
Meanwhile, a judge in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -
which was responsible for upholding the travel ban suspension - has requested a
vote on whether to hear the case again in front of a larger panel of justices.
Three judges had heard the case between the US Justice
Department and the state of Washington, but an "en banc" review would
involve another hearing before 11 judges.
On Thursday, the President had responded furiously after the
three justices ruled that government lawyers had not provided "any
evidence" of national security concerns which had justified banning
migrants, visitors and refugees from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya
and Sudan.
Moments after the ruling, Mr Trump had tweeted: "SEE
YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"
Fighting to get the travel ban reinstated in the Supreme
Court could be a challenge for the President.
There are only eight justices instead of the usual nine on
the bench at present - and they could deliver a deadlocked result of 4-4 if
they were asked to weigh in on the case, meaning the suspension would remain in
force.
But some foreign-born US citizens who
need to make trips back to one of the seven nations are having to abandon their
plans - potentially creating life or death situations.
A surgeon in Texas, who was originally born in Iran, has had
to cancel a journey to his home country where he was due to operate on unborn
children.
Dr Alireza Shamshirsaz is one of the world's few specialists
in foetal surgery, but he has had to tell two sets of parents in Iran that he
will be unable to travel there for fear of being left stranded.
"It was a disaster. They were sobbing, completely and totally
devastated. Now, there is no hope for them," Dr Shamshirsaz told the
Houston Chronicle.
By Connor
Sephton, News Reporter
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