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President Donald Trump on Tuesday expanded the list of countries facing travel restrictions in his administration’s latest move to crack down on migration following the shootings of two National Guard soldiers last month.
The President moved to impose a blanket ban and entry limits on Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, as well as “individuals holding Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents”. This is in addition to the 12 countries with full sanctions and seven other countries with partial sanctions, according to the White House, which shared details on the proclamation in a fact sheet.
Trump is maintaining sanctions on 12 countries considered “high risk”: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Two countries already facing partial travel measures – Laos and Sierra Leone – will also now be affected by a full ban.
The White House said the measures were “necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess their risks, secure cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and pursue other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives.”
According to the White House, the proclamation also adds partial entry bans on 15 additional countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Countries including Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela also remain on the list, facing some but not complete sanctions.
Turkmenistan — which had imposed partial travel restrictions — sees those restrictions loosened in Tuesday’s proclamation. The US is lifting restrictions on non-immigrant visas for Turkmenistan, while maintaining a ban on citizens entering as immigrants.
“The country remains productively engaged with the United States and has demonstrated significant progress since the previous proclamation,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Trump has taken a number of actions to restrict migration to the US after a shooting in November left one National Guard member dead and another in critical condition. Federal officials have identified the suspect as an Afghan national who came to the US in 2021.
Trump and his allies have taken the incident seriously, blaming his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for inadequately vetting migrants in the US. In the days following the shootings, Trump outlined additional steps he said he would take, including blocking entry from some developing countries, revoking citizenship for naturalized immigrants and ending federal benefits for non-citizens.
Trump was expected to extend his travel ban, one of his most controversial policies dating back to his first term, when it was reiterated several times before ultimately being upheld by the US Supreme Court.
The upcoming World Cup, being jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, has raised concerns that restrictive visa policies will prevent fans from traveling to the US. Trump tried to allay those concerns, saying the US was creating a priority visa system to speed up travel for ticket holders.
Some countries that qualified for the tournament face sanctions under Trump’s policies, including Iran, Haiti and Senegal.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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