President of the United States, Donald Trump disclosed that the travel ban on visitors to the United States will be extended to three countries – Chad, Venezuela and North Korea. The ban will take effect from October 18, 2017.
“Making America safe is my number one priority, we will not admit those into our country, we cannot safely vet”
Meanwhile, the previous ban of 90-days expired September 24, 2017 while that of 120-days on refugee admissions will expire late October whereas this present ban is not time limited but condition based.
The Countries previously given temporary ban include: Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iran and Sudan. Although, Sudan has been dropped from the administration’s list because it was cooperating with both monitoring security and sharing information with the US Government.
“As President I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people”
According to a statement by the White House, Venezuela travel ban will only apply to a group of Government officials and their families because the government did not disclose whether its citizens pose a public safety threat and it also “fails to share public safety and terrorism-related information adequately”.
Somali citizens face a total ban on permanent migration to the US and will be subjected to “additional scrutiny” for visitor visas while Libyans also face a ban on permanent migration, common business and tourism visas.
Only Iranians on student exchange visas will be allowed entry to the US but will also face further vetting whereas North Korea “does not cooperate with the U.S. government in any respect and failed to satisfy all information-sharing requirements”.
Syria does not identify security risk and is a source of significant terrorist threats, the statement read.
As for North Korea, critics say the ban may be as a result of the nuclear weapon face-off between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump.
However, diplomatic visas for all targeted countries are exempted from the ban.
The new order provides Consular Officers with discretion to waive the new restrictions on a “case-by-case basis”, if a foreign national does not pose a threat to national security.
The restriction can also be waived if he or she demonstrates that denying entry into the US would cause “undue hardship”.
Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Elaine Duke, would be required to update President Trump on the ban every 180 days and “countries may come off the list as we review them”.
