The Trump Administration has backflipped on the application of its comprehensive immigration order issued last week.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement deeming all permanent residents to be exempted from the order under national interest provisions.
"In applying the provisions of the president's executive order, I hereby deem the entry of lawful permanent residents to be in the national interest," the department said in a two-sentence statement.
"Accordingly, absent the receipt of significant derogatory information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare, lawful permanent resident status will be a dispositive factor in our case-by-case determinations."
The administration initially said residents were included in the ban and would need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, though the latest statement from the Department of Homeland Security appears to constitute a blanket presumption of acceptance for permanent residents.
President Donald Trump's executive action temporarily bars entry for immigrants and non-immigrants from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the United States.
The official Homeland Security statement came on Sunday evening after White House chief of staff Reince Priebus backpedaled over the inclusion of green card holders, saying on NBC that the ban "didn't affect them."
Permanent residents - with jobs, homes, cars and family in the United States - found themselves detained on arrival or barred from flying in the hours after the order was issued.
