Trump's immigration plan raises many unanswered questions

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Donald Trump's speech on foreign policy Monday focused in large part on his proposal to suspend immigration from dangerous parts of the world and impose a new system of "extreme vetting" that would subject applicants to questions about their personal ideology.

Trump defined it Monday this way: In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles — or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.

U.S. immigration officials already vet potential immigrants, conducting background checks on those who seek to live or work in America.

Visa applicants already must answer questions about whether they have ever engaged in, or intend to engage, in any form of terrorist activity, along with questions such as whether they've ever ordered, incited, called for, committed, assisted, helped with, or otherwise participated in activity that includes "limiting or denying any person's ability to exercise religious beliefs."

Trump used both "immigrants" and "visitors" during his Monday speech, raising the prospect he could scrap an existing waiver program that allows people from friendly countries to visit the U.S. as tourists without a visa.

Trump's unprecedented call in December 2015 "for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" is still listed on his campaign website, and he has yet to personally denounce the controversial proposal.

Following the June shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump appeared to introduce a new standard, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."

[...] you could say it's an expansion.