Trump signs new immigration executive order

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump Monday signed a new executive order to curtail migration from six Muslim-majority countries after a previous effort was derailed by legal defeats.

Originally one of the blacklisted countries, Iraq was dropped from the new order that still includes Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Nationals of those countries will not be able to receive new visas for a 90-day period.

The order says "the risk of erroneously permitting entry of a national of one of these countries who intends to commit terrorist acts or otherwise harm the national security of the United States is unacceptably high".

Trump faced intense pressure from the State Department and Pentagon to drop Iraq from the list as Baghdad is a principal partner in the U.S.-led coalition's war on Daesh.

Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference alongside his Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security counterparts, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Iraq and the U.S. had agreed to implement new security measures "to achieve our shared objective of preventing those with criminal or terroristic intent from reaching the United States".

Attorney General Jeff Sessions maintained that the new order "provides a needed pause, so we can carefully review how we scrutinize people coming here from these countries of concern."