Executive Order 14161 of January 20, 2025: Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats:

• Access the executive order on whitehouse.gov
• Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8451 (January 30, 2025)

Sometimes referred to as the "extreme vetting" order.

NAFSA Summary

Executive Order 14161 directs federal agencies to enhance immigration screening and vetting procedures to prevent the entry of individuals who may pose a terrorist, national security, or public safety threat to the United States. The order restores prior vetting standards from the Trump administration (see, for example, President Trump's Memorandum of March 6, 2017 issued during the Trump-Pence Administration) and requires a comprehensive review of visa and immigration policies to ensure stringent security measures. Key provisions include identifying high-risk countries for potential entry restrictions, strengthening refugee screening, and evaluating visa programs for potential security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the order mandates stricter oversight of foreign nationals already in the U.S. and calls for measures to promote immigrant assimilation into American society.

Section 1, Policy and Purpose, describes a general "policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes." The EO goes on to say: 

"To protect Americans, the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests. More importantly, the United States must identify them before their admission or entry into the United States. And the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security."

Section 2, Enhanced Vetting and Screening Across Agencies, calls on agencies to enhance screening and vetting and return standards and procedures to those effective during the prior Trump administration.

Paragraph (a) of this section directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence to "promptly:"

• "identify all resources that may be used to ensure that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible"
• "determine the information needed from any country to adjudicate any visa, admission, or other benefit under the INA for one of its nationals, and to ascertain whether the individual seeking the benefit is who the individual claims to be and that the individual is not a security or public-safety threat"
• "re-establish a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures, consistent with the uniform baseline that existed on January 19, 2021, that will be used for any alien seeking a visa or immigration benefit of any kind"
• "vet and screen to the maximum degree possible all aliens who intend to be admitted, enter, or are already inside the United States, particularly those aliens coming from regions or nations with identified security risks"

Paragraph (b) of this section directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence to submit a joint report within 60 days that:

• identifies "countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries pursuant to section 212(f) of the INA"
  • NAFSA note: INA 212(f); 8 USC 1182(f) grants presidents broad power to suspend or impose restrictions, "by proclamation," on the entry of "aliens" (the INA defines alien as "any person not a citizen or national of the United States") when they find that such entry "would be detrimental to the interests of the United States."
• identifies "how many nationals from those countries have entered or have been admitted into the United States on or since January 20, 2021"
• and for any individual who may be covered by a country finding under this provision, directs DHS to "take immediate steps to exclude or remove that alien unless she determines that doing so would inhibit a significant pending investigation or prosecution of the alien for a serious criminal offense or would be contrary to the national security interests of the United States."

Section 3, Additional Measures to Protect the Nation, contains various calls on "the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence" to, no later than 30 days from January 20, 2025:

• "Evaluate and adjust all existing regulations, policies, procedures, and provisions of the Foreign Service Manual, or guidance of any kind pertaining to each of the grounds of inadmissibility listed in sections 212(a)(2)-(3) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)-(3)), to ensure the continued safety and security of the American people and our constitutional republic."
  • NAFSA note: Reference to the "Foreign Service Manual" likely refers to the Department of State's "Foreign Affairs Manual" (FAM). 9 FAM contains immigration-related guidance for consular officers. 9 FAM 302 is the section that deals with visa ineligibilities.
• "Ensure that sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent any refugee or stateless individual from being admitted to the United States without undergoing stringent identification verification beyond that required of any other alien seeking admission or entry to the United States"
• "Evaluate all visa programs to ensure that they are not used by foreign nation-states or other hostile actors to harm the security, economic, political, cultural, or other national interests of the United States"
• "Recommend any actions necessary to protect the American people from the actions of foreign nationals who have undermined or seek to undermine the fundamental constitutional rights of the American people, including, but not limited to, our Citizens' rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, who preach or call for sectarian violence, the overthrow or replacement of the culture on which our constitutional Republic stands, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support for foreign terrorists"
• "Ensure the devotion of adequate resources to identify and take appropriate action for offenses described in 8 U.S.C. 1451"
  • NAFSA note: 8 USC 1451 deals with the grounds for "revocation of naturalization"
• "Evaluate the adequacy of programs designed to ensure the proper assimilation of lawful immigrants into the United States, and recommend any additional measures to be taken that promote a unified American identity and attachment to the Constitution, laws, and founding principles of the United States"
• "Recommend any additional actions to protect the American people and our constitutional republic from foreign threats"