Washington:
Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions to citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the case and an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The memo shows a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, would be set to a full visa pension.
In the second group, five countries – Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan – would face partial suspensions that would affect tourist and students’ visas and other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
In the third group, a total of 26 countries that include Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan would be considered a partial suspension of US visa issues if their governments “do not make an effort to tackle deficiencies within 60 days,” says Memoet.
An American official who spoke on condition of anonymity warned that there could be changes on the list and that it was not yet approved by the administration, including US State Secretary Marco Rubio.
The New York Times first reported on the list of countries. The move returns to President Donald Trump’s first period ban on travelers from seven majority Muslim nations, a policy that underwent several iterations before being maintained by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 that required intensified security examination by any foreigners seeking admission to the United States to detect national security threats. This order ordered several cabinet members to submit before March 21 a list of countries from which travel partially or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information are so deficient”.