--- title: Donald Trump Muslim Ban: White House Can't Decide on Wording description: The Trump Administration can't decide whether barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries is a travel ban or not. canonical: https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-01T18:25:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:54.058Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Team Can't Decide Whether the Travel Ban Is a 'Ban' og:description: They called it a ban, argued it wasn't, and now say it doesn't matter. og:url: https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41149af58dfa60b8/6988b7b9428a9e8933cd5aa2/trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to impose tighter vetting of travelers entering the United States, at the Pentagon in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Team Can't Decide Whether the Travel Ban Is a 'Ban' twitter:description: They called it a ban, argued it wasn't, and now say it doesn't matter. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41149af58dfa60b8/6988b7b9428a9e8933cd5aa2/trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Team Can't Decide Whether the Travel Ban Is a 'Ban' ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. The Trump Administration can't decide whether barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries is a travel ban or not._ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 1, 2017 6:25 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 1, 2017 6:25 PM UTC The Trump Administration can’t decide whether [barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries](http://time.com/4652552/president-trump-is-suspending-a-refugee-program-and-banning-visas-from-7-countries/) and suspending a refugee program is a travel ban or not. Since signing an executive order on Friday, President Trump has called the order a “ban” as have White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and advisor Kellyanne Conway. But after facing criticism and protests in recent days, Spicer pushed back at a press briefing on Tuesday, arguing “it’s not a travel ban.” “A ban would mean people can’t get in,” [he said](http://www.ktvh.com/2017/01/spicer-says-travel-ban-shouldnt-be-called-ban). “We’ve clearly seen hundreds of thousands of people come into our country from other countries.” Homeland Security Secretary [John Kelly ](http://time.com/4655017/the-homeland-security-secretary-said-president-trumps-visa-ban-wasnt-a-surprise/)made a similar argument at a separate press conference on Tuesday. “This is not a travel ban,” he said. “This is a temporary clause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa-vetting system.” On Wednesday, however, Trump himself weighed in, arguing in a tweet that the terminology didn’t matter. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/826774668245946368) In the video above, see examples of the Trump Administration describing the travel ban. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/"},"headline":"President Trump's Team Can't Decide Whether the Travel Ban Is a 'Ban'","datePublished":"2017-02-01T18:25:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:54.058Z","description":"The Trump Administration can't decide whether barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries is a travel ban or not.","url":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/","keywords":["White House","Immigration","Donald Trump","kellyanne conway","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41149af58dfa60b8/6988b7b9428a9e8933cd5aa2/trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41149af58dfa60b8/6988b7b9428a9e8933cd5aa2/trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to impose tighter vetting of travelers entering the United States, at the Pentagon in Washington","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to impose tighter vetting of travelers entering the United States, at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2017. The executive order signed by Trump imposes a four-month travel ban on refugees","creditText":"Carlos Barria—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/","name":"President Trump's Team Can't Decide Whether the Travel Ban Is a 'Ban'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The Trump Administration can't decide whether barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries is a travel ban or not.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4656807/travel-ban-white-house-wording/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```