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1 1 (March 12, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/goveaze0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ *Research Service informrng the Iegislative debate since 194 COVID-19: Current Travel Restrictions and Quarantine Measures Updated March 12, 2020 The United States, along with many countries, is responding to an outbreak of a respiratory disease, now referred to as COVID-19, which is caused by a novel coronavirus first detected in mainland China's Hubei Province in late 2019. Cases of COVID-19 have now been detected in several countries, including the United States. To date, the federal government has taken two key actions to deter persons with suspected COVID-19 infection from entering the country or spreading the virus to persons within the United States. First, the federal government has restricted the entry of many non-U.S. nationals (aliens) who recently have been physically present in mainland China, Iran, or the Schengen Area of the European Union (EU). Second, the federal government has imposed a quarantine requirement on all persons entering the United States, regardless of citizenship status, who have recently been to those areas. This Legal Sidebar examines the legal authorities underlying these actions, as well as possible legal challenges to their use. Entry Restrictions To deter the entry of aliens into the United States who may have been exposed to COVID-19, President Trump has invoked his authority over alien entry under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). That provision allows the President to suspend the entry of all aliens, or any class of aliens whose entry he finds . .. would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Under this authority, President Trump has issued three proclamations to restrict the entry of aliens who were recently present in countries affected by COVID-19. A Proclamation on January 31, 2020, generally suspended the entry of any foreign national who had been in mainland China at some point within the prior 14 days. But lawful permanent residents (LPRs), most immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and LPRs, and some other groups, such as some airplane and ship crew members, are exempted from this restriction, as are those with prior presence in Hong Kong or Macau. On February 29, 2020, President Trump issued a second Proclamation that similarly suspends the entry of any foreign national who has been in Iran within the prior 14 days, in addition to making minor amendments to the earlier Proclamation. Finally, on March 11, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation imposing the same restrictions on foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen Area (which does not include Ireland or the United Kingdom) within the prior 14 days. To be Congressional Research Service https://crsreports. congress.gov LSB10415 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress