President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order on immigration Monday after a federal appeals court blocked his earlier order.
U.S. news reports say Iraq would no longer be a part of the list of Muslim-majority countries affected by a temporary ban on immigration and resettlement of refugees.
Trump's original order signed January 27 covered not only Iraq, but Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
The ban caused chaos in airports around the world as immigration officials tried to figure out if it also affected travelers with green cards and pre-approved visas.
An appeals court upheld a federal judge's ruling suspending the Trump travel ban, questioning whether it is constitutional.
The administration argued the president has the authority to protect the U.S. from potential terrorism.
Although the president plans to make an amended executive order, the White House is still challenging the appeals court ruling, and legal experts say the entire matter could wind up before the Supreme Court.
Former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told VOA he hopes the president will come up with an order that “makes sense without getting people who shouldn't be caught in the net.”
“Obviously the first one was overbroad. Ideally we would get...a rule that is carefully targeted on people that are high risk, potentially being foreign fighters, without collecting people that are dual-citizens or may even be able to come to the U.S. that ought to be able to come without impediment,” Chertoff said.
