* Several of the countries on the possible target list, such as Nigeria and Tanzania, have strong economic and security-related ties to the United States.
By Ted Hesson, Washington
US
U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to expand his travel ban to bar people from several additional countries, a move that could again reignite questions about whether the policy discriminates against Muslims.
Trump said during a visit to Davos, Switzerland,
last week that his administration planned to add “a couple of countries” to the
ban, but did not give further details.
According to a source familiar with a draft
version, the tentative list of nations included Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan,
Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.
Trump is seeking re-election in November and has
made immigration restrictions a central focus of his 2020 campaign.
The revised ban could appeal to Republican voters
and Trump’s stance will contrast with the current crop of Democratic
candidates. A survey by Politico-Morning Consult released on Wednesday found
that 73 percent of Republican voters backed the policy.
The announcement of the ban’s expansion is expected
to come as soon as this week, according to a Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) official who requested anonymity to discuss the process. The timing is
close to the third anniversary of its original release, which occurred within
days of Trump’s January 2017 inauguration.
The travel ban went through three iterations, all
which were challenged in federal court. The current version — issued as a
presidential proclamation in September 2017 — requires the DHS to review the
visa restrictions every 180 days and permits the addition or removal of
countries. The ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2018 and
includes a periodic review of whether countries should be added or taken off
the list.
The Trump administration has not publicly announced
the countries under consideration for the expanded travel ban, nor given
reasoning for targeting specific nations. But Reuters confirmed that the
administration has weighed visa restrictions against Belarus, Eritrea,
Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, a list first reported by
Politico.
The country list could change before Trump issues
the new ban, the DHS official said. The U.S. State Department declined to
comment, while the DHS and the White House did not respond to requests for
comment.
Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty
International USA, suggested during a call with reporters on Tuesday that
barring countries such as Myanmar and Eritrea, where the organization has
documented human rights violations, could make it more difficult for migrants
seeking safety in the United States.
Several of the countries on the possible target
list, such as Nigeria and Tanzania, have strong economic and security-related
ties to the United States.
In 2017, Trump reportedly complained that Nigerian
immigrants coming to the United States would never “go back to their huts” in
Africa, according to a New York Times report that year. The White House denied
at the time that Trump referenced “huts” in the discussion.
Nigeria received no warning from Washington that it
could be subjected to the new ban, a Nigerian government minister said on
Monday.
As directed by the current ban, the DHS completed a
worldwide review of countries last year that evaluated whether the entry of
their nationals into the United States could cause a public safety threat,
according to the DHS official and a second department official.
The review examined each country’s ability to
verify the identity of its own nationals, information sharing practices with
the United States, and possible terror or public safety risks, the officials
said.
State Department officials then attempted to work
with the countries to remedy outstanding issues, a step that removed some
countries from consideration, according to the officials.
Ultimately, Trump will decide the countries that
will be subjected to the visa restrictions, the officials said.
The updated travel ban will be tailored and not
outright bar all travelers from the countries, according to the two DHS
officials.
Instead, the countries will be subjected to a range
of visa restrictions with a focus on immigrant visas, according to one of the
officials. Such visas - unlike a visitor visa - can lead to permanent
residency.
Since it’s implementation in December 2017, at
least 79,769 visa applications have been subject to the ban, according to date
from the State Department. Of those, 6,333 qualified for exceptions and another
17,798 were granted waivers, but a federal lawsuit claims the waiver process is
opaque and difficult to navigate.
During Trump’s presidential campaign in 2015, he
called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United
States.”
After he issued the first version of his travel
ban, critics derided the order — which targeted travelers and immigrants from
seven Muslim-majority nations — as a “Muslim ban.”
Three of the nations under consideration for the
updated ban — Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Sudan — have majority Muslim populations.
Eritrea and Tanzania have sizable Muslim minorities.
The list of countries currently subject to visa
restrictions include five Muslim-majority nations — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria
and Yemen. North Korea and Venezuela also faced visa restrictions, but those
measures affect relatively few travelers. Litigation over the ban is
continuing. - Africa
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