US travel ban expansion: President Donald Trump has made travelling to America even more difficult for some countries. His June declaration revolved around banning citizens of what the administration deems “high risk” nations or heightening restriction on visitors from a group of other countries. This list included a total of 19 countries.
However, the situation became even more in the wake of the recent shooting incident near the White House that targeted two National Guard member. On Tuesday (US time), the Trump administration announced that it was expanding its list to include 15 more countries. Here’s every other nation impacted by the latest decision.
Trump travel ban expands – New countries impacted
On top of the pre-existing 19 countries that had been flagged in June, the administration had added another 20 countries to the list. Of these, 15 facing partial restrictions are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
And the other five whose citizens have been barred from coming to the US are Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. As part of this expansion, the Trump admin has fully blocked people with Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents from travelling to the US.
India is not on the list.
The country-specific restrictions announced in June had originally banned citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, The Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Seven other countries’ nationals were barred from permanently setting in the US, or getting tourist or student visa – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Why have these countries been banned?
The new announcement comes after Trump made the major claim that he would be “permanently” pausing migration from “third world countries” in light of an Afghan man being identified as the suspected shooter linked to the White House shooting.
The Trump admin said that the new restrictions have hit the countries which have “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records.” And so, the government believes that it is extremely hard to vet these citizens coming to the US.
The White House proclamation added, “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.”