Trump: expands the travel ban and adds five additional nations to the initial list of twelve
Trump: On Tuesday (local time), US President Donald Trump added five additional nations to the travel ban and placed restrictions on the other ones.
According to Fox News, the action was taken as the Trump administration continues to tighten immigration and admission procedures in the US.
“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,” according to a White House statement.
According to the White House, his actions on Tuesday would result in a travel restriction for nationals of five nations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, as well as those with travel papers issued by the Palestinian Authority. Furthermore, the partial entry restrictions already in place for Sierra Leone and Laos were extended to complete suspensions.
Partially restricted nations include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Additionally, the proclamation “narrows broad family-based immigrant visa carve-outs that carry demonstrated fraud risks, while preserving case-by-case waivers,” according to the White House.
Many of the nations on the travel ban have “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records, and nonexistent birth-registration systems,” according to the Trump administration’s statement, which makes it difficult to conduct proper screening. According to Fox News, some allow “Citizenship-by-Investment schemes that conceal identity and bypass vetting requirements and travel restrictions,” while others refuse to provide law enforcement data.
Trump announced in June that citizens of twelve countries—Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—would not be allowed to enter the United States. He also tightened restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The ruling on Tuesday comes after an Afghan national was detained on suspicion of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, DC, during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to Fox News.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal was one of the many unscreened Afghans who were mass-paroled into the United States under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the time of the murder, according to Fox News.
According to Fox News, Lakanwal is charged with shooting US Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, who is recuperating, and US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who subsequently passed away.