Trump administration weighs adding 36 countries to travel ban, memo says

U.S. President Donald Trump's medication is considering importantly expanding its question restrictions by perchance banning citizens of 36 further countries from entering the United States, according to an interior State Department cablegram seen by Reuters.

Earlier this month, the Republican president signed a proclamation that banned the introduction of citizens from 12 countries, saying the determination was needed to support the United States against "foreign terrorists" and different nationalist information threats.

The directive was portion of an migration crackdown Trump launched this twelvemonth astatine the commencement of his 2nd term, which has included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being pack members, arsenic good arsenic efforts to contradict enrollments of immoderate overseas students from U.S. universities and deport others.

In an interior diplomatic cablegram signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department outlined a twelve concerns astir the countries successful question and sought corrective action.

"The Department has identified 36 countries of interest that mightiness beryllium recommended for afloat oregon partial suspension of introduction if they bash not conscionable established benchmarks and requirements wrong 60 days," the cablegram sent retired implicit the play said.

The cablegram was archetypal reported by the Washington Post.

Among the concerns the State Department raised was the deficiency of a competent oregon cooperative authorities by immoderate of the countries mentioned to nutrient reliable individuality documents, the cablegram said. Another was "questionable security" of that country's passport.

Some countries, the cablegram said, were not cooperative successful facilitating the removal of its nationals from the United States who were ordered to beryllium removed. Some countries were overstaying the U.S. visas their citizens were being granted.

Other reasons for interest were the nationals of the state were progressive successful acts of coercion successful the United States, oregon antisemitic and anti-American activity.

The cablegram noted that not each of these concerns pertained to each state listed.

"We are perpetually reevaluating policies to guarantee the information of Americans and that overseas nationals travel our laws," a elder State Department authoritative said, declining to remark connected circumstantial interior deliberations and communications.

"The Department of State is committed to protecting our federation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of nationalist information and nationalist information done our visa process," the authoritative said.

The countries that could look a afloat oregon a partial prohibition if they bash not code these concerns wrong the adjacent 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

That would beryllium a important enlargement of the prohibition that came into effect earlier this month. The countries affected were Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The introduction of radical from 7 different countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — has besides been partially restricted.

During his archetypal word successful office, Trump announced a prohibition connected travelers from 7 Muslim-majority nations, a argumentation that went done respective iterations earlier it was upheld by the Supreme Court successful 2018.