President Trump’s first-term “travel ban” could be revived and extended to more than 40 countries.
According to The New York Times, the administration is drawing up a list of countries and classifying them red, orange and yellow, with varying strictures.
On the red list of countries, whose citizens would be outright banned from entering the US, would be 11 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
On the orange list of countries are Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan. These countries would have visas severely restricted, with some exceptions made for important businessmen and -women.
Mainly African countries, such as Angola, Malawi and Zimbabwe, and would be given 60 days to resolve “perceived deficiencies,” such as unreliable issuing of passports and schemes that sell routes to US citizenship.
In total, 43 countries are included in the draft plans, according to State Department sources.
The revived travel ban is part of an executive order signed by President Trump in January that aims 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.”
During his first term, Trump’s travel ban was labelled the “Muslim ban;” although it also targeted non-Muslim countries including North Korea and Venezuela. President Biden revoked the ban on his first day in office.