Trump vs. Obama Refugee Ban: 9 Things You Need to Know

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Monday, January 30, 2017

1. Trump's order halts all refugee resettlement for 120 days and blocks citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Activists gather outside the Trump International Hotel to protest President Donald Trump's executive actions on immigration in Washington, January 29, 2017. | (Photo: Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein)

Trump's executive order does a number of different things.

One of the main components of Trump's immigration order is that it completely halts the U.S.'s entire refugee resettlement program for 120 days with the hopes that it will allow for the 18-month vetting process to be analyzed and beefed up.

This means that refugees across the entire world who are being processed for entry into the U.S. must wait about four months before their cases can continue to be processed.

In addition, the executive order also prevents citizens from seven-Muslim majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — from traveling to the U.S. for a 90-day period. However, there are some exceptions that allow for foreign diplomats traveling to the U.S. or the United Nations in New York City.