PHOTO: The family of 12-year old Eman Ali of Yemen wait for the arrival of her and her father Ahmed at San Francisco International Airport, February 5, 2017 (Kate Munsch/Reuters)

Developments on Day 22 of the Trump Administration:

“A Brand New Order” for Muslim Ban

Facing the courts’ rejection of his original “Muslim Ban” executive order, Donald Trump promises a quick response.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One, “We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order.”

See US Podcast: Courts Defy Trump’s “Muslim Ban” — What Now?
TrumpWatch, Day 21: Court Rejects Trump Appeal on “Muslim Ban”; Conway’s Ethics Violation?; Immigration Raids

Earlier in the day, at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said: “We’ll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You’ll be seeing that sometime next week.”

He did not indicate whether a new order would be more limited than the initial effort to bar entry to the US by citizens of seven mainly-Muslim countries — and, at first, US permanent residents from those countries — or whether he will press ahead with the effort for a sweeping ban despite judicial resistance.

However, NBC News said work on the new order began several days before Thursday’s decison by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the initial ban and the Trump Administration’s arguments over national security.

Immigration Raids in 6 States as Trump Order Takes Effect

US immigration authorities arrest hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least six states, in the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump’s January 26 order for a crackdown.

The raids, which officials said targeted “known criminals”, also held some immigrants who do not have criminal records, in an apparent departure from enforcement during the Obama Administration.

Immigration officials confirmed raids of homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the raids were part of “routine” immigration enforcement.

Trump has pledged to deport as many as 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration’s priority of deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of whom can be targeted to include those with minor offenses or no convictions at all.

Protesters block a highway ramp in Los Angeles on Thursday night as an estimated 100 immigrants are detained:

White House Restricts Environmental Protection Agency

As the House of Representatives considers measures to cut or even abolish it, the Environmental Protection Agency is restricted by the White House.

The Trump Administration instructed the EPA to limit the number of staff at this week’s environment conference in Alaska: 34 were registered, but only half were allowed to go.

The official reason was to save money, but the step could be a marker of Trump’s intent to sharply curb the EPA: he denounced its work during the campaign and has dubbed climate change a “hoax”.

Since the inauguration, officials have rewritten or even removed webpages on climiate changes. The EPA was told to make no comment over Trump’s executive order renewing the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, despite the risk of environmental damage, and the agency must now submit any studies for political review.

At the Energy Department, most career technical employees have been removed from an office, created under the Obama administration, to oversee scientific research. Temporary political appointees, none of them scientists, have taken their places.

Former and current EPA staff protested earlier week over the nomination of Scott Pruett, the Oklahoma Attorney General who has been involved in numerous legal actions against environmental regulations, to lead the agency.

Trouble Grows for Flynn Over Sanctions Calls with Russian Ambassador

National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is in further trouble over phone calls in late December with the Russian Ambassador to the US, including discussion of the removal of American sanctions.

Citing two current US officials and a former official familiar with the case, the Washington Post detailed on Thursday the five calls on December 29 — first mentioned by Reuters last month — as President Barack Obama announced further sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s alleged interference in the US Presidential election. The sources said that Flynn promised Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that the Trump Administration would take a different line from its predecessor.

A US official confirmed to CNN late Friday afternoon that Flynn and the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, did speak about sanctions, among other matters.

Vice President Mike Pence said last month that the National Security Advisor did not mention the sanctions to Kislyak; however, three officials now say that Pence only relayed what Flynn told him.

A senior White House advisor now said that Pence believes that the conversations are “a problem”.

Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that he was unaware of reports but will “look into that”.

CIA Refuses Security Clearance for Top Flynn Aide for NSC Role

National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has another setback when a key aide is rejected for a security clearance, effectively ending his tenure on the National Security Council.

Robin Townley, the senior director for Africa, was informed that the Central Intelligence Agency rejected his request for a “Sensitive Compartmented Information” clearance, according to two sources.

One sources said the rejection was approved by CIA director Mike Pompeo.

The sources said that the CIA did not offer much explanation, but that Flynn and his allies believe it was motivated by Townley’s skepticism of the intelligence community’s techniques — sentiments shared by Flynn.

Trump Repeats Claim of Widespread Voter Fraud

Donald Trump repeats his unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud during the Presidential election, telling senators “thousands” of people were bussed in from Massachusetts to vote in New Hampshire.

Trump was discussing his Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch when he switched to the claim over New Hampshire, which both he and Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte lost in November.

Officials at New Hampshire’s Secretary of State office, US Attorney’s Office, and Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s office said there was no evidence for the allegation.

“We have not seen any evidence of busloads of out-of-state voters coming across the border to vote in New Hampshire elections,” said David Scanlan, the Deputy Secretary of State for New Hampshire.

A member of the Federal Election Commission asked Trump to present his evidence to the public.

Trump has previously asserted that there were three million fraudulent votes for Hillary Clinton — about the size of her victory in the popular vote. However, he provided no support for the claim, and analysts have noted that only a handful of cases of voter fraud have been recorded since 2000.