Some may remember that when Donald Trump was in office for the first time, he introduced a travel ban on a number of countries. He is back again with the new travel ban, and this time 43 countries are affected.
Reports say that the Trump administration is planning on putting travel restrictions in place that will affect citizens from dozens of countries. This is set to be a travel ban that is broader in scope than what Pres. Donald Trump put in place during his first term.
Back in 2017, during Donald Trump’s first administration, he put a partial ban, called the ‘Muslim ban’ in place. Travelers who would be coming from predominantly Muslim-populated nations were affected by that ban.
It seems as if now he is expanding the scope to include 43 countries. It started on January 20 when cabinet members were instructed to draft a list of countries within 60 days. These countries would either face a full or partial travel restriction.
According to the president, the travel ban would ‘protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.’
There have been a number of draft lists that are circulating recently, although the full list is not yet known. One thing that we do know is that the press office from the State Department said that it was following his executive order.
The State Department further said that it was ‘committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process.’
The draft list is split into three sections, red, orange, and yellow.
The red list includes countries, such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Citizens from those countries would not be allowed to enter the United States.
The 10 countries that fall on the orange list include Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan. The orange list is not a full ban but the citizens would have to have an in-person interview to get a visa.
Many African nations fit in the 22 countries that are thought to be on the yellow list. This means that the country was given 60 days to fix any deficiencies that may exist. If they don’t, they risk being put on the red or orange list.
The countries on the yellow list include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Vanuatu, and Zimbabwe.
