By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday has expanded the travel ban, added 5 countries and tightening restrictions on others, cited national security risks and gaps in foreign vetting systems.
The decision is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to tighten US entry rules, with officials saying weak vetting systems abroad pose security risks, Fox News reported.
According to the White House, citizens of South Sudan, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Syria will face a complete ban on travel to the United States. The restrictions also apply to individuals holding Palestinian Authority–issued travel documents.
White House said existing partial bans on Laos and Sierra Leone have been expanded into full suspensions of entry.
“The restrictions and limitations imposed by the Proclamation are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the move is aimed at advancing foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives.
The proclamation also places partial travel restrictions on citizens of 15 countries: The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Tonga, and Zimbabwe.
Trump administration said alongside the expanded travel restrictions, it is narrowing “broad family-based immigrant visa carve-outs that carry demonstrated fraud risks, while preserving case-by-case waivers”.
In its announcement, the administration pointed to concerns including “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records, and nonexistent birth-registration systems”.
Some governments, it said, have refused to share law-enforcement data, while others allow “citizenship-by-investment schemes that conceal identity and bypass vetting requirements and travel restrictions,” as per Fox News.
The latest move builds on restrictions announced in June, when Trump imposed a US entry ban on citizens of 12 countries — Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Burma, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and Yemen — and tightened rules for others, including Laos, Burundi, Cuba, Togo, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The decision also follows the arrest of an Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers in the Washington DC area over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was among Afghans who were mass paroled into the US under Operation Allies Welcome during the Biden administration. Lakanwal is accused of fatally shooting US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and injuring US Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, who is recovering.
