Note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 12.
A “handful of scientists” working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are citizens of the seven countries that were barred from entering the United States for up to 90 days under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month, but so far, the travel ban hasn’t had an effect at the lab, officials said Friday.
ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. It’s DOE’s largest science and energy laboratory, and it has foreign nationals working there as well as visiting scientists.
The seven countries included in the president’s travel ban, which was issued January 27, were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
“Only a handful of scientists working at ORNL are citizens of those seven countries,” the lab said in response to questions. “We’re not aware of any effects of the order here to date.” [Read more…]