Washington (United States) (AFP) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday expanded a US travel ban by barring nationals of seven more countries, including Syria, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, from entering the United States. Trump, who has long campaigned to restrict immigration and has spoken in increasingly strident terms, moved to ban foreigners who “intend to threaten” Americans, the White House said. He also wants to prevent foreigners in the United States who would “undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions or founding principles,” a White House proclamation stated.
Trump’s move comes days after two US troops and a civilian were killed in Syria, which Trump has sought to rehabilitate internationally since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Syrian authorities reported that the perpetrator was a member of the security forces who was due to be dismissed for “extremist Islamist ideas.” The Trump administration had already informally barred travel from Palestinian Authority passport holders as it acts in solidarity with Israel against the recognition of a Palestinian state by other leading Western countries, including France and Britain.
The newly banned countries include some of Africa’s poorest nations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan, as well as Laos in Southeast Asia. In a series of new actions, the White House also stated that Trump was imposing partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries, including the most populous, Nigeria, as well as Black-majority Caribbean nations.
Ramping up his anti-immigrant tone, Trump in recent weeks has employed increasingly loaded language to denounce African-origin immigrants. At a rally last week, he remarked that the United States was only accepting people from “shithole countries” and suggested that the country should seek immigrants from Norway and Sweden. He has also recently described Somalis as “garbage” in connection to a scandal involving Somali Americans who allegedly defrauded the government for fictitious contracts in Minnesota. Notably, Trump had already banned the entry of Somalis.
Other countries that remain on the full travel ban include Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, and Yemen. Last month, Trump expanded the ban further against Afghans by severing a program designed to assist those who had fought alongside the United States against the Taliban. This decision followed an incident where an Afghan war veteran, who appeared to have post-traumatic stress, shot two National Guards troops deployed by Trump in Washington.
In addition to Nigeria, the countries newly subject to partial restrictions include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Angola, Senegal, and Zambia have been prominent US partners in Africa, with former President Joe Biden commending these nations for their commitment to democracy.
In the proclamation, the White House cited high crime rates from some countries on the blacklist and issues with routine record-keeping for passports. However, the White House acknowledged “significant progress” by one initially targeted country, Turkmenistan, allowing its nationals to once again secure US visas, but only as non-immigrants.
© 2024 AFP
