In an effort to cut travel costs, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will allow American citizens to buy and travel without a passport at no cost.
The order will also allow for the resumption of border security checkpoints and the suspension of refugee admissions to the United States.
It also expands the country’s refugee resettlement program, with the President’s executive order allowing for the resettlement of up to 50,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.
“This is a significant change to our immigration system, which has been a net drag on our economy,” said President Trump during a press conference.
“And we have to do it faster.”
It will also include a new travel ban that will allow Americans to stay indefinitely in the country, with an option for a 90-day extension for those with a green card.
During his press conference, the President said the executive order was “not a travel ban,” but a “travel pause.”
“The goal is to keep this country safe and to make sure our nation’s people and economy are protected, but the president doesn’t believe this is a travel pause, he said.
After the President announced his order, a group of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa were detained and held overnight in New York City’s JFK Airport.
The detainees, all of whom had been in the U.S. for more than a decade, were denied a hearing before the court that allows them to sue the U