Trump considers banning travel from 43 foreign nations


Listen To Story Above

travel restrictions

Sources indicate that the current administration is reportedly considering reinstating travel restrictions on an expanded list of nations. According to reports from The New York Times, officials have devised a system categorizing countries into red, orange, and yellow groups, with each group facing varying degrees of limitations, ranging from comprehensive bans to stringent visa constraints.

The report states:

> The Trump administration is considering targeting the citizens of as many as 43 countries as part of a new ban on travel to the United States that would be broader than the restrictions imposed during President Trump’s first term, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Insider information suggests that a draft recommendation designates 11 countries as “red,” whose citizens would be barred from entering the United States altogether. These countries are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen, as per anonymous officials privy to the sensitive internal discussions. However, they cautioned that the list was compiled by the State Department several weeks ago and is likely to undergo modifications before reaching the White House.

Officials from embassies, regional bureaus at the State Department, and security experts from various departments and intelligence agencies have been reviewing the draft, providing feedback on the accuracy of the deficiency descriptions for particular countries and considering policy implications, such as the potential disruption of cooperation on other priorities.

The “orange list” comprises countries like Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan. Under the current proposals, visa issuance for these nations would be “sharply restricted,” although exceptions may be made for wealthy business travelers.

Countries on the “yellow list” include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Vanuatu, and Zimbabwe. These nations would be given a 60-day window to address their “perceived deficiencies,” which encompass failing to share adequate information, unreliable passport issuance, and the presence of schemes facilitating a path to U.S. citizenship.

> These countries would be given 60 days to solve their “perceived deficiencies,” which include failing to share adequate levels of information, unreliable issuing of passports, and the presence of schemes that sell a route to U.S. citizenship.

These plans stem from an executive order signed by Trump in January, aimed at safeguarding Americans “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

The order mandates the State Department to identify countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

During his initial presidency, Trump implemented a similar travel ban, which was inaccurately labeled by the media as the “Muslim Ban,” despite targeting individuals from non-Muslim nations like North Korea and Venezuela. This ban was subsequently revoked by Joe Biden on his first day in office.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR