2 days Ago By Catherine Bouris
President Donald Trump is considering targeting citizens of up to 43 countries in a new travel ban, according to officials familiar with the matter, The New York Times reports. During his previous term, Trump passed three executive orders that came to be known as his “Muslim ban,” as these orders banned travel to the United States from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria. All travel restrictions enacted by Trump were lifted by President Biden following his inauguration in January 2021.
Trump’s first round of travel bans did not go unchallenged, with the issue making it all the way to the Supreme Court. In June 2018, a majority upheld that the restriction of travel for nationals from seven countries, including five Muslim-majority countries, was lawful. Trump was undeterred, however, with reports circulating in 2020 that he was considering expanding the ban to cover even more countries.
It appears he is now close to realizing that goal, with the list obtained by the NYT including 43 countries, with 11 countries facing a complete ban on any and all travel. The 11 countries on the “red” list, with all travel banned, are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Other countries, such as Belarus, Haiti, and Russia, are on the “orange” list, with visas sharply restricted.
More countries still, including Chad, Dominica, and Liberia, are on the “yellow” list, meaning their citizens will have 60 days to address any concerns raised by their visa application. Placement on the orange list has the potential to ruffle Russian President Vladimir Putin’s feathers; it means that affluent Russian citizens might be able to visit the U.S.
while those on immigrant or tourist visas cannot—and that all Russian citizens would be subject to in-person interviews before they could be granted a visa. It’s unclear how Russia’s inclusion on this list gels with Trump’s recent efforts to enact Russia-friendly policies and diplomacy. Trump first floated the idea of introducing “strong ideological screening” for all immigrants entering the United States at a rally in October 2023, with his prepared speech reading, “If you empathize with Radical Islamic terrorists and extremists, you’re DISQUALIFIED.
If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you’re DISQUALIFIED. If you support Hamas or the ideology behind Hamas, you’re DISQUALIFIED. And if you’re a Communist, Marxist, or Fascist, you are DISQUALIFIED.
” He also said he would ban potential refugees from Gaza. Following his inauguration in January, Trump issued an executive order in which he said he would seek to reinstitute his travel ban in order to protect Americans “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” In the executive order, Trump also tasked the State Department with identifying countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries,” giving the Department 60 days to file its report; it is due next week.
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