Dec. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday added five countries to his administration’s travel ban and other entry restrictions, citing what officials called inadequate screening that posed a national security risk.
The expanded ban includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. It also imposes restrictions on people seeking entry from Laos and Sierra Leone, as well as those holding travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The proclamation comes weeks after Trump announced he would permanently pause “migration from all Third World Countries” a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington D.C. over the Thanksgiving weekend.
“The restrictions and limitations imposed by the proclamation are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws and advance other important foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives,” officials wrote in the proclamation.
In June, the Trump administration imposed travel bans on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, along with partial restrictions on seven countries. The ban revives one of the signature policies of the Trump administration, which has sought to clamp down on entry to the United States.
The latest proclamation states that the expanded ban is needed because of difficulties vetting people seeking entry into the United States for ties to terrorism and criminal involvement. The countries included in the expanded ban are unstable or “suffer from widespread corruption,” with official documents often unreliable, according to the proclamation.
Some countries also have high rates of their citizens overstaying their visas and refusing to help U.S. authorities with repatriation, the proclamation states.
The latest proclamation preserves case-by-case waivers, as well as exceptions for lawful permanent residents, visa holders, athletes, diplomats and others. The proclamation is intended to encourage foreign governments to cooperate with U.S. officials. It lifts the ban on non-immigrant visas from Turkmenistan after what the Trump administration called the country’s productive engagement.
Trump has sharply criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies and blamed them for allowing the suspected Afghan shooter into the United States.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would pause processing immigration applications from 19 countries and would revisit immigration and asylum cases approved under the Biden administration.
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