WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was expanding travel restrictions to 20 more countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and immigrate to the United States.
The Trump administration has included five more countries as well as people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority to the list of countries facing a complete ban on travel to the United States and has imposed new limits on 15 other countries.
The move is part of ongoing efforts by the administration to tighten US entry standards for travel and immigration, in what critics say unfairly prevents travel for people from a wide range of countries. The administration has suggested expanding the restrictions following the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over the Thanksgiving weekend.
People who already have visas, are lawful permanent residents of the United States or hold certain visa categories such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is believed to serve the interest of the United States are all exempt from the restrictions. It was not immediately clear when the new restrictions would take effect.
In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from coming to the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. The decision revived a distinctive policy of his first term.
At the time the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and greater restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced that it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are prohibited from entering the United States to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also completely restricted travel on people with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, the latest US travel restriction against Palestinians. South Sudan was also already facing significant travel restrictions.
An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The restrictions apply both to people seeking to travel to the United States as visitors or to immigrate there.
The Trump administration said in its announcement that many of the countries from which it was restricting travel had “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records” that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the United States.
He also said that some countries had high rates of people overstaying their visas, refused to take back their citizens whom the United States wanted to deport or had a “general lack of stability and government control”, which made the survey difficult. It also cited immigration enforcement, foreign policy and national security concerns for the movement.
The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard troops near the White House has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. After that incident, the administration announced a flurry of immigration restrictions, including further restrictions on people from those initial 19 countries who were already in the United States.
News of the expanding travel ban is likely to face fierce opposition from critics who have argued that the administration is using national security concerns to collectively detain people from a wide range of countries.
“This expanded ban is not about national security but instead is another shameful attempt to demonize people simply for where they are,” said Laurie Ball Cooper, Vice President of US Legal Programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
The Trump administration also updated the restrictions on some countries – Laos and Sierra Leone – which were previously on the partially restricted list and in one case – Turkmenistan – said that the country had improved enough to justify reducing some restrictions on travelers from that country. The administration said everything else from the previous travel restrictions announced in June remains in effect.
The new restrictions on Palestinians come months after the administration imposed limits that make it nearly impossible for anyone with a Palestinian Authority passport to receive travel documents to visit the United States for business, work, leisure or educational purposes. Tuesday’s announcement goes further, banning people with Palestinian Authority passports from immigrating to the United States
In justifying its decision on Tuesday, the administration said that several “US-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have killed American citizens.” The administration also said that recent warfare in those areas had “likely resulted in compromised verification and screening capabilities.”