* The countries include Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.
By Michelle
Hackman, Washington US
The Trump
administration plans to add seven countries to a group of nations subject to
travel restrictions, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, along
with others in Africa and Asia, according to administration officials who have
seen the list.
The nations being weighed by the Trump administration wouldn’t face blanket bans on travel to the U.S., but could have restrictions placed on specific types of visas |
The
new restrictions would apply to travellers and immigrants from Belarus, Eritrea,
Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania. The countries wouldn’t
necessarily face blanket bans on travel to the U.S., but could have
restrictions placed on specific types of visas, such as business or visitor
visas, administration officials said.
Some
countries could be banned from participating in the diversity visa lottery
program, which awards green cards to people in countries with low levels of
immigration to the U.S. President Trump has called for an end to
that program, saying it lets undesirable people into the U.S., and
he has proposed reorienting the existing visa system toward skilled workers
instead.
The
officials said the list isn’t final, and on Tuesday the White House was still
debating whether to include one or two of the countries.
The
Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to request for comment. The
State Department declined to comment.
The
administration plans to roll out its expanded travel restrictions on Monday,
marking the three-year anniversary of the initial travel ban Mr. Trump signed on
his seventh day in office, sparking controversy at the beginning of his term.
The
administration has said its policy restricting travel is necessary to prevent
potential acts of terrorism, as countries on the list don’t adequately vet
their travelers to the U.S.
The
first order, which banned travel to the U.S. by most residents of seven
majority-Muslim countries, was struck down by a federal court and withdrawn. A
second iteration of the ban, issued in March 2017, was also struck down by a
federal judge who said it still amounted to religious discrimination against
Muslims.
A
third version of the policy, issued in September 2017, was upheld by a divided Supreme Court in a 5-4
ruling in June 2018 on the grounds that federal law gives the president broad
authority to suspend entry to the U.S.
Those
current restrictions blocked travel by individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia,
Syria, Yemen and North Korea, and by political officials from Venezuela. The
administration briefly included Chad on the ban list, but removed the country
in April 2018.
Unlike
the initial list, most of the new countries don’t have majority-Muslim
populations. Several of them, however, have had relatively higher rates of
their citizens overstaying visas in the U.S., according to DHS data.
In
the 2018 fiscal year, 24% of Eritreans on business or visitor visas overstayed
their permits, along with 15% of Nigerians and 12% of people from Sudan. Those
compared with a total overstay rate in the category of 1.9%.
The
names of the seven countries was first reported by Politico.
Immigrant-rights
groups criticized the planned expansion of the policy to new countries. “Tens
of thousands of American families are already hurting and separated because of
this bigoted and cruel ban. Doubling down on it won’t make any of us safer,”
said Farhana Khera, president of Muslim Advocates, a nonprofit civil-rights
organization.
The
move to expand its travel restrictions signals the Trump administration’s
intent to ramp up several hard-line immigration policies ahead of the 2020
election, which Mr. Trump’s advisers believe will play in his favor.
The
Trump administration this month mounted a plaque in Yuma, Ariz.,
commemorating the construction of 100 miles of bollard fencing along the
southern border. The administration has also ramped up rhetoric against
Democratic-led cities and states that have adopted “sanctuary” policies, and
administration officials are considering new restrictions on them.
A
federal judge this month blocked an executive order the president
had signed giving state and local governments the ability to reject placement
of refugees in their communities.
The
American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged all three versions of Mr.
Trump’s travel ban, declined to comment on whether it would bring new
litigation against the expansion.
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