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On 27 January 2017 President Donald Trump issued an unnumbered Executive Order titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, widely described as a Muslim ban targeting travelers to the U.S. from seven specific Muslim-majority countries. The order prompted controversy and protests across the United States amid widespread confusion about its contents and the manner in which it might be enforced. An article by Seth J. Frantzman asserted countries affected by the order were not selected by President Trump and were in fact pinpointed as areas of concern in late 2015, during the administration of President Barack Obama: Frantzman was correct (as was Mic.) about the absence of the names of seven countries from President Trump's order: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen were not specifically cited in President Trump's 27 January 2017 Executive Order, which held: President Trump's order appeared to have roots in the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, the passage of which was reported in late 2015 and early 2016 as a response to shootings and terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris in November 2015. Although President Obama did in fact sign the bill into law in December 2015, it was attached as a rider on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, an omnibus spending bill: H.R. 158 did not actually block travel or immigration by residents or citizens of any particular countries; rather, it terminated travel privileges afforded persons previously covered under the Visa Waiver Program, as described in a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to members of Congress objecting to the bill: An article about the bill from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) also noted that it didn't bar entry to the U.S. by persons traveling from certain areas of concern; it merely changed the process by which they must apply for visas: On 18 February 2016 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified three additional countries (bringing the total to seven) that would also be covered by the limitations on Visa Waiver Program travel: As of November 2016 (before President Trump's 20 January 2017 inauguration), a U.S. Customs & Border Protection FAQ page affirmed that travel restrictions remained in place for those specific seven countries but also noted that those restrictions do not bar travel to the United States: President Trump's 27 January 2017 executive order mentioned only Syria by name; the six other countries associated with it were ones that had been identified by DHS as of concern as early as December 2015.
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