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Article snippet: When President Trump announced the latest and most far-reaching version of his travel ban on Sunday, citing threats to national security posed by letting citizens of specific countries into the country, the White House said it had come after exhaustive planning. It was meant to prevent the confusion and chaos that his first travel ban created at airports, colleges and technology companies in the United States and at refugee camps around the world back in January. A White House official said the new policy was more narrowly targeted than its precursor, which was swiftly blocked by the courts. But immigrant and diaspora communities from the affected countries once again reacted with dismay, and refugee advocates denounced the new decree as more of the same. “This is still a Muslim ban,” Becca Heller, the director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said in a statement. The first travel ban was blocked by federal judges because it was perceived to discriminate against Muslims; the Trump administration argued it was a security measure designed to thwart terrorism. A revised version of that ban expired on Sunday. The new third version, which is to take effect on Oct. 18, adds Chad, North Korea and Venezuela to the list of affected countries and drops Sudan. (The other affected countries are Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia.) Different restrictions were imposed on each of the three additions, depending on the threat they were deemed to pose. For examp... Link to the full article to read more