Chad, North
Korea and Venezuela join Donald Trump’s travel ban
President
Donald Trump has added Chad, North Korea and Venezuela to the countries whose
citizens are to face restrictions in entering the United States.
Mr. Trump’s
so-called travel ban order initially targeted citizens from six Muslim majority
countries of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.
But the new
proclamation removed restrictions that were placed on Sudan and added the three
new others.
A statement
by White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, on Sunday stated the new
countries on the list.
Mr. Trump
said he had taken the steps to strengthen the security standards for travelling
to the United States.
“Our
government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens- to serve their
needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their
values.” the American President said.
Mr. Trump’s
original ban was highly controversial, as it was widely labelled a “Muslim
ban”.
It was
subsequently abandoned by the administration after a series of federal courts
blocked it on grounds it violated the US constitution’s protection of religious
freedom.
The addition
of North Korea and Venezuela now means not all nations on the list are majority-Muslim.
America and
North Korea are engrossed in a face-off over the nuclear arms programme of the
Asian country with which America’s ally in the peninsula, South Korea, remains
technically at war since their partition.
Venezuela on
the other hand is facing political strife after President Nicholas Maduro
conducted a referendum that stri*ped the opposition-controlled National
Assembly of its powers.
The criteria
for the new ban list is now based on vetting procedures and co-operation, and
the restrictions have now been “tailored” on a country-by-country basis.
Ms. Sanders
stated furthered that the proclamation would begin until the U.S. can conduct
proper screening and vetting of those countries’ nationals.
She said Mr.
Trump had taken “key steps to protect the American people from those who would
enter our country and do us harm.”
Ms. Sanders
also said the new development aims at ensuring American border and immigration
security is adequate to protect the safety and security of the American people.
‘’Earlier
this year, the President signed Executive Order 13780, which asked the
Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a new minimum baseline for how much
information sharing with foreign nations is required to determine whether their
nationals seeking entry into the United States present security threats to our
nation,” she said.
‘’The new
baseline furthers the aims of the Executive Order by ensuring our border and
immigration security is adequate to protect the safety and security of the
American people.
“New
requirements on issuing electronic passports, sharing criminal data, reporting
lost and stolen passports, and sharing more information on travelers will help
better verify the identities and national security risks of people trying to
enter the United States,’’ she added.
She noted
that foreign governments will have to work with the United States to identify
serious criminals and known or suspected terrorists, as well as share
identity-related information and exemplars of documents such as IDs and
passports.
Source: (
Premium Times )
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