Within days of taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump implemented a blanket ban on entry from seven Muslim-majority countries. It was met with furious pushback, public outcry, and a string of defeats in court.

This time around, despite signing an initial barrage of executive orders, Trump has not implemented a travel ban. But that doesn’t mean it’s not coming. One of his Day 1 executive orders, experts say, takes the first step toward a new travel ban — one that could be even more extensive than the first time around.

The order lays the groundwork for a future ban by directing Trump’s Cabinet members to report back within 60 days on countries with “deficient” vetting and screening procedures for travelers. It’s not clear exactly what kind of punitive measures citizens of those countries could face. But the order leaves open the possibility of a “partial or full” ban on their entry to the US that could go beyond previous restrictions.

Experts say such an order could potentially be used to deport people who were issued visas in the last four years, not just to block future arrivals; it could also include provisions that could target those people based on their political beliefs, not just their country of origin. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s plans.

Trump’s slower approach to implementing a potential travel ban seems geared at avoiding the court losses that saw two versions of the 2017 ban struck down, experts say. This time, Trump is being more cautious about his legal strategy and gathering the kind of evidence he could use as justification for future travel bans, rather than immediately announcing one.

In his first term, Trump announced a ban without specifying why the targeted countries raised national security concerns and did not initially articulate........

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