New York/Washington: The Trump administration has expanded its travel ban and restrictions to 20 additional nations as well as the Palestinian Authority as part of its efforts to “protect US national security and public safety interests”.
US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Tuesday expanding and strengthening entry restrictions on nationals from countries with “demonstrated, persistent, and severe deficiencies” in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect America from national security and public safety threats.
The proclamation said these measures are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the US “lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives.”
On top of the pre-existing 19 countries that had been flagged in June, the administration had added another 20 countries to the list. Of these, 15 facing partial restrictions are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
And the other five whose citizens have been barred from coming to the US are Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria. As part of this expansion, the Trump admin has fully blocked people with Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents from traveling to the US.
India is not on the list.
The country-specific restrictions announced in June had originally banned citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Seven other countries’ nationals were barred from permanently settling in the US, or getting tourist or student visa – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The new announcement comes after Trump made the major claim that he would be “permanently” pausing migration from “third world countries” in light of an Afghan man being identified as the suspected shooter linked to the White House shooting.
The Trump admin said that the new restrictions have hit the countries that have “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records.” And so, the government believes that it is extremely hard to vet these citizens coming to the US.
The White House proclamation added, “The restrictions and limitations imposed by the Proclamation are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives.”
