WASHINGTON (TNND) — With the busy travel season already in full swing, the White House has unveiled new rules about who is allowed to come to the United States, even for a visit.
The new policy was detailed on Tuesday.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation expanding and strengthening entry restrictions on nationals from countries with demonstrated, persistent, and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats.”
Already, a full travel ban was put in place for 19 countries, with seven new ones added..
They are Laos, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.
The expanded list also includes 15 new countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
These bring the total now to 39 countries.
In an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, Mike Baker, a former CIA covert Operations Officer, said, “We have to figure out a way to improve that vetting system and until we do, it is nonsensical. It doesn’t make any sense in terms of our national security interests to just say, ‘Hey, come on in even though we don’t really know who you are.'”
The rush to expand the ban followed last month’s shooting of two members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal is an Afghan national who was granted asylum in the u-s as part of a partner program with Afghanistan called Operation Allies Welcome, to allow those who worked alongside the U.S. military in Afghanistan, remain in the United States.
The White House now says the program is paused and needs reevaluation.
In a November 30 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about it.
“Under this program, we could have up to 100,000 people who came into this country from Afghanistan that may be here to do us harm,” she said.
The White House is also banning all individuals holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, citing “terrorist groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza.
Critics call it a new chapter of Trump‘s family separation policies of the past
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told CNN Wednesday, “It doesn’t create an exception for us citizens to have their family members be able to come visit and celebrate milestones with them and so this is a very cruel, inhumane immigration policy that he’s putting in place.”
Still, it’s a policy that will likely remain in place for the foreseeable future, especially after the Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s initial travel ban in his first term.
It’s a fact he was sure to mention in this most recent Executive Order.
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