United States President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to prohibit trips from various countries on Wednesday (4), alleging safety risks.
The ban will fully restrict citizens from 12 countries in the US:
- Afghanistan;
- Myanmar, also known as Burma;
- Chad;
- Republic of Congo;
- Equatorial Guinea;
- Eritrea;
- Haiti;
- Iran;
- Libya;
- Somalia;
- Sudan;
- Yemen.
People from seven countries will have a partial restriction:
- Burundi;
- Cuba;
- Laos;
- Sierra Leone;
- Togo;
- Turkmenistan;
- Venezuela.
Proclamation includes exceptions to existing visa bearers, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry meets US national interests.
The US President made the final decision on the signing of the proclamation after Colorado, according to an White House employee. He was considering the possibility in advance, but Sunday’s attack (1st) accelerated the taking of the measure.
The White House has said it is promoting the ban on Trump’s trips as “fulfillment” from a campaign promise to “protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors who want to come to our country and cause us damage.”
“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign agents who want to come to our country and cause us damage. These common sense restrictions are specific to each country and include places that lack adequate verification, have high permanence rates out of the visa period or do not share identity and threat information,” the White House Vice Secretary, Abigail Jackson, wrote.
Wednesday’s proclamation occurs less than five months after the president’s inauguration for his second term.
On his first day in office, he issued an executive order instructing members of the cabinet, including the Secretary of State, compiling a list of countries “for which verification and screening information is so disabled as to justify the partial or total suspension of the admission of citizens of these countries.”
In his entry of travelers from seven Muslim majority countries in the US, a policy that was judicially contested before President Joe Biden revokes it by taking office in 2021.
The ban on Afghanistan citizens can impact the Afghans who worked alongside the US during the two decades of war in the country.
Thousands of Afghan are already in a limbo due to other Trump government executive orders suspending the US refugee admission program and the suspension of outdoor out aid financing for Afghan (SIV) flights.
