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The Trump administration is preparing to expand its travel ban to an additional 36 countries.
According to a memo viewed by The Washington Post, the State Department is looking at an expanded list that will include countries Africa, Asia and the Carribean.
These countries include Angola; Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzani, Tonga; Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The report states:
The memo, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent Saturday to U.S. diplomats who work with the countries, said the governments of listed nations were being given 60 days to meet new benchmarks and requirements established by the State Department.
It set a deadline of 8 a.m. Wednesday for them to provide an initial action plan for meeting the requirements.
Other reasons included the availability of citizenship by monetary investment without a requirement of residency and claims of “antisemitic and anti-American activity in the United States” by people from those countries.
The memo also stated that if a country was willing to accept third-country nationals who were removed from the United States or enter a “safe third country” agreement it could mitigate other concerns.
It was not immediately clear when the proposed travel restrictions would be enforced if the demands were not met.
The original list of countries included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It also imposed partial entry restrictions on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela under the same order.
Trump wrote in his executive order:
As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people.
I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks.
Nationals of some countries also pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States, which increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety.
The policy came into effect on June 4th.
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