JUDY WOODRUFF: After months
of legal and political
wrangling, President
Trump's executive order

banning entry into the U.S. from
six Muslim-majority countries
goes into effect tonight.

Earlier this week, the Supreme
Court gave a partial green
light to get started, ordering

those with what it called bona
fide family or business ties
to the U.S. be granted entry.

Last night, the Trump
administration laid out
which connections count.

And joining us to discuss these
guidelines is Yeganeh Torbati.

She covers the State
Department for Reuters.

Yeganeh, welcome
back to the program.

So what is the administration
saying now about who is
permitted in and who isn't?

YEGANEH TORBATI, Reuters: Right.

From these six countries, and
individuals who have certain
family connections, so spouses,

mothers, fathers, children,
siblings, even step-siblings,
they can be allowed in.

The State Department is counting
that as a bona fide connection.

But if you are the grandparents
of a U.S. citizen, for
instance, or the grandchild,

and you are trying to get in
and you're a citizen from one
of these six countries, that

doesn't count in the State
Department, in the U.S.
administration's view.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And there
was also a definition of
business relationship.

YEGANEH TORBATI: Right.

So, if you are a student
that has been accepted
into a U.S. university,
someone with an offer

of employment from an American
company, or even a lecturer
coming in to lecture at a

conference, for instance,
or university, you
can be allowed in.

But if are you someone who has
just booked a hotel room or a
tour or something like that,

that does not count.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what about
those people who were in the
process of trying to get a

visa to come here?

YEGANEH TORBATI: So, any
individual who has been
granted a visa, those
visas are not going

to be revoked.

They are still valid and
they will still be able to
come into the United States.

But there's thousands
potentially of people
who had applied for
visas, they were waiting

to hear back.

Those individuals,
we're not exactly sure.

But I think that is going to
be something that now consulate
officers will have to take

into account these guidelines
when they are assessing, are
they actually going to give

that visa to that person or not?

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Yeganeh, did
the administration explain how
it made this dividing line when

it comes to family
relationships?

YEGANEH TORBATI: It seemed
a little bit arbitrary
from the outside.

What the administration said
today to reporters is that they
looked at guidelines that they

have from the Immigration
Nationality Act, which is the
main U.S. law that governs U.S.

immigration.

And they said that that is how
they are going to assess which
family relationships count

and which don't.

Critics, of course, say
that they're still hewing
this line very narrowly,
they're interpreting

the Supreme Court ban narrowly,
the Supreme Court ruling
narrowly, so that they can let

in as few people as possible.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So we know this
has been subject to litigation.

Is it expected there are
going to be more lawsuits
or does this settle it?

YEGANEH TORBATI: We haven't
seen people, and refugee groups
or institutions like the ACLU

running yet saying that they
are going to be suing over
this or filing new complaints.

It is certainly a possibility.

One other thing to mention
is that the administration
seems to be very narrowly
interpreting which

refugees it's going to let in.

It is saying that just having a
relationship to a resettlement
agency is not enough, and

therefore any additional
refugees that will be
coming in this year
will have to have some

family relationship
in the United States.

The refugee groups are
very upset about that.

They think that that violates
the spirit, if not the letter
of the Supreme Court's order.

And that is something that
we're going to see if there
is going to be litigation or

not.

It doesn't seem like
as of yet there's been
any complaints filed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right,
Yeganeh Torbati with
Reuters, thanks very much.

This goes into effect
tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

YEGANEH TORBATI: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We thank you.

YEGANEH TORBATI: Thank you.