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Donald Trump To Introduce New U.S. Travel Ban With 43 Countries Affected
The Trump administration is reportedly planning travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban.
This potential new travel ban is believed to be broader than the versions President Donald Trump issued in his first term.
During Trump’s first administration, in 2017, a partial ban – labeled the ‘Muslim ban’ by the president and his aides – was imposed on travelers from predominantly Muslim-population nations.
Now, the president appears to be expanding the scope of the travel ban to include 43 countries.
President Trump issued an executive order on January 20 instructing cabinet members to draft a list of countries within 60 days that should face full or partial travel restrictions as their ‘vetting and screening information is so deficient.’
The president said the travel ban would ‘protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.’
As the deadline approaches, a draft list of the proposed countries is circulating, per The New York Times.
The State Department press office said in a statement that it was following Trump’s executive order and was ‘committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,’ but declined to comment on internal deliberations.
The draft list has reportedly been divided into three sections – red, orange, and yellow – indicating the restriction level.
The ‘red’ list is said to include 11 countries whose citizens would be entirely forbidden from entering the U.S.: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Ten countries are reportedly listed under ‘orange,’ which means the citizens will be limited from entering but not entirely banned, meaning they’d be required to have specific visas. Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan citizens would require in-person interviews to acquire a visa, the outlet reports.
22 countries, largely African nations, are believed to be on the ‘yellow’ list, which means they’ve been given 60 days to address concerns regarding alleged ‘deficiencies.’
The Times reports that if these nations don’t comply, they risk being placed on the ‘red’ or ‘orange’ list.
This list includes: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Vanuatu, and Zimbabwe.
Former President Joe Biden issued a proclamation to terminate Trump’s travel ban on his first day in office in 2021.
He described the restrictions as ‘a stain on our national conscience and [were] inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.’
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