President Donald Trump has once again expanded the U.S. travel ban, adding seven new countries and, for the first time, holders of Palestinian Authority passports to a growing list of nations whose citizens are barred from entering the United States. The move brings the number of countries facing travel restrictions to nearly 40, as the administration doubles down on its promise to tighten America’s borders and restore national security by strengthening control over who gets in—and who does not.
The new ban applies to Syria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Laos, along with anyone traveling on a Palestinian Authority passport. The restrictions have no exceptions for individual circumstances.
Trump’s proclamation cites threats to the safety and stability of the United States as the justification.
“It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security and public safety, incite hate crimes, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,” Trump said in his proclamation.
“The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests. “
Trump added, “The United States Government must ensure that admitted aliens do not intend to threaten its citizens; undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; or advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”
The inclusion of Syria comes in the wake of an attack earlier this week that killed two U.S. troops and a civilian.
Syrian authorities identified the perpetrator as a security officer set to be dismissed due to “extremist Islamist ideas.”
The attack reinforced long-standing concerns within the administration about the region’s volatility and the risk of infiltration by radicals.
The addition of Palestinian Authority passport holders formalizes what had functioned as an informal ban for years.
The other countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan – are plagued by weak institutions, Islamist militancy, and chronic instability.
Laos was included due to authoritarian consolidation and close ties to China.
Trump said all face “chronic vetting deficiencies” that pose risks to U.S. security.
Partial restrictions also apply to countries including Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal.
While athletes will be allowed to enter for next year’s World Cup, no such guarantees have been made for fans or journalists.
Other countries – including Angola, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Antigua and Barbuda, and Tonga – are also facing new forms of limited travel restrictions.
Trump had already banned the entry of Somalis.
Other countries remaining on the full travel ban are Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, and Yemen.
Trump last month made the ban even more sweeping against Afghans, severing a program that brought in Afghans who had fought alongside the United States against the Taliban, after an Afghan veteran who appeared to have post-traumatic stress shot two National Guards troops deployed by Trump in Washington.
The White House acknowledged “significant progress” by one initially targeted country, Turkmenistan.
The Central Asian country’s nationals will once again be able to secure US visas, but only as non-immigrants.
Trump has also all but ended refugee admissions, with the United States now only accepting South Africans from the white Afrikaner minority.
A total of 39 countries now have a full or partial travel ban imposed.
Trump’s travel bans have routinely triggered fierce resistance from Democrats. In 2017, his first ban, driven by terrorism concerns, was immediately smeared as racist because the affected countries were Muslim majority countries. That charge rang hollow, given that the list of countries of concern was developed under the Obama administration. The problem wasn’t the ban, it was who was implementing it. The same pattern played out at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Trump’s travel restrictions were attacked as xenophobic, only for governments around the world to adopt nearly identical measures shortly thereafter.
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