US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday the prohibition of entry of citizens of a dozen countries in the United States, resurrecting a controversial policy adopted in his first term. According to the decree, the measure will be valid from next Monday.
The included countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition to the total ban, there will be additional restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“I need to act to protect national security and the national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump said in the decree.
Cuba is a “sponsor of terrorism” and his government “does not cooperate or shares sufficient information” with the United States, as well as refusing “historically to readmit its nationals” expelled, says the text. Venezuela, in turn, “lacks a competent or cooperative central authority to issue passports or civil documents and does not have adequate review and verification measures,” says the document, which also accuses the country of rejecting “historically” the expelled Venezuelans.
According to the Republican, the veto was motivated by the attack that occurred last Sunday in Colorado, when an Egyptian citizen injured dozens of people with a makeshift flames during a manifestation in memory of Israeli hostages in Gaza. The man was irregularly in the US after continuing in the country with a won tourist visa.
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“The recent terrorist attack on Boulder, Colorado, evidenced the extreme dangers that represents the entry of foreign citizens that were not properly verified,” Trump said in a video message.
Despite the motivation, Egypt – with whom the US has strategic ties for its position in the Middle East – was not included in the veto.
The list released on Wednesday is the result of a Trump decree in his inauguration on January 20, which demanded that state and internal security departments, as well as the director of national intelligence, to prepare a report on countries with “hostile attitudes” from the US, analyzing whether the entry of people from certain countries was a risk to national security.
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Trump compared the new measures with the ban he imposed during his first term, which he said, prevented the United States from suffering attacks such as those in Europe.
“We won’t let what happened in Europe will happen in the United States,” said Trump. “We cannot have open migration from any country that we cannot check and filter safely and reliable.”
During his first term, Trump banned the US entry from citizens from seven countries mostly Muslim: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
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At the time, visitors from these countries were prevented from boarding flights to the US or detained at US airports after landing. Among them were students, teachers, entrepreneurs, tourists and people who visited friends and family.
The decree was reformulated after a series of judicial questions, until reached a version that was maintained by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The measure has affected several categories of travelers and immigrants from these countries, as well as North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
