Saying “we don’t want them”, President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, banned citizens of 12 countries from visiting the United States, and imposed new restrictions on seven other countries.
The list of banned countries included:
- Afghanistan
- Chad
- Republic of Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Myanmar
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
Countries facing heightened restrictions include:
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
The ban goes into effect from Monday, June 9 at 12.01 am. The cushion period is to avoid the chaos at airports when President Trump had announced a similar measure during his first term in 2017 and implemented it with immediate effect.
Donald Trump introduces US travel ban
The decision came within days of Sunday’s attack on a group of people in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national was arrested and charged.
The Department of Homeland Security later said that the accused had overstayed the duration of his tourist visa. Egypt is not on the list of banned countries.
In a video message, Trump said some countries had “deficient” screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their own citizens.
He added: “The recent terror attack in Boulder has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them.”
There are certain cases in which the US will make an exemption, and that includes green card holders, dual citizens who are American citizens as well, those seeking visas through connections to US family members, athletes (and their coaches and families) travelling to the US to play in major sporting events, and refugees who have been granted asylum.
The exemption also applies to Afghans who helped the US and seek to enter under a special visa program.
Trump wrote that Afghanistan “lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures”.
Reuters reported that Somalia has pledged to work with the US to address security issues.
Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said: “Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised.”
However, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the US government was fascist and warned Venezuelans of being in the US. They said: “The truth is, being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans … They persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason.”
