“President Trump’s most recent attempt at the Muslim ban — promised before and after he became president — is more carefully crafted to avoid legal difficulties. However, no amount of tinkering disguises the fact that it still targets persons from more or less the same list of countries. Worse this time, this ban will last indefinitely.

“The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) continues to believe that such bans intentionally target travelers and immigrants based on religion and who the current administration happens to dislike. The expedience of adding three more countries — Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela — is a cynical ploy to increase the new ban’s chances of surviving a court test. Nine people emigrated from North Korea to the US last year. Chad is yet another Muslim country, and Venezuela, racked with unrest, is included because no one in the US will likely defend it. Rather, its inclusion can be used to paper over the ban’s true target.

“We’ve noted before that the US Department of Homeland Security has issued a report that country of citizenship is ‘unlikely to be a reliable indicator’ of terrorist activity in the United States. None of the bans make anyone safer.

“The new ban, like the previous versions, is mired in xenophobia, discrimination, and hate. As such, it is another affront to Jewish and American values. We will continue to fight its implementation and promote a fair and just policy for foreign visitors, immigrants and refugees.”