ISLAMABAD – The Trump administration plans to add seven more countries toits travel ban list, namely Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria,Sudan and Tanzania, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, whichcited two administration officials who have seen the list.
According to the report, not all of the countries would face blanket banson US travel. Some of the countries could have restrictions placed oncertain visa types, including business or visitor vias. The unidentifiedadministration officials also stated that the list isn’t final.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed to the Wall StreetJournal that he is trying to add more nations to the travel ban butdeclined to name the countries.
“The travel ban has been profoundly successful in protecting our countryand raising the security baseline around the world.
While there are no new announcements at this time, common sense andnational security both dictate that if a country wants to fully participatein U.S. immigration programs, they should also comply with all security andcounter-terrorism measures — because we do not want to import terrorism orany other national security threat into the United States,” White Housespokesperson Hogan Gidley is quoted as saying Tuesday by Politico.
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In a Friday statement during a Homeland Security Experts Group event,Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf noted: “For a small number ofcountries that lack either the will or the capability to adhere to thesecriteria, travel restrictions may become necessary to mitigate threats,”Politico reported.
On January 27, 2017, one week after taking office, Trump first introducedan executive order prohibiting entry into the US of foreign nationalsfrom seven Muslim-majority countries, although court challenges forced theadministration to modify the ban multiple times.
The current version of the executive order, also referred to as travel ban3.0, bars travelers from seven countries including five Muslim-majoritynations — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — in addition to NorthKorea and Venezuela, Sputnik reported.
