Two more countries in Africa have announced they are imposing a travel ban on U.S. citizens in response to an identical policy instituted by the Trump administration that will take effect on January 1.
Mali and Burkina Faso authorities said they were acting in the name of “reciprocity” after the White House announced it was adding them and five other countries “with demonstrated, persistent, and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats,” Reuters reported Wednesday.
Mali authorities on Tuesday said the White House’s decision to add it to the travel ban list had been taken without prior consultation and that the stated rationale was not justified by “actual developments on the ground,” according to the Reuters report.
The expanded ban followed the arrest of an Afghan national suspected in the shooting of two National Guard troops over the Thanksgiving weekend in November.
“President Trump’s top priority will always be the safety and security of the American people. This is just another way that the President is working to keep dangerous aliens out of our country who seek to exploit or harm American citizens,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Breitbart News in mid December.
Mali, with a population of 25 million, and Burkina Faso, also with 25 million people, join other African nations hitting back at the Trump administration over travel ban policies.
In late December, neighboring Niger also announced visas would no longer be issued to U.S. citizens, joining Chad which had also suspended visas after it was included in an earlier list of 12 countries affected by a travel ban, Reuters reported.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.