President Donald Trump on Wednesday resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term, taking executive action on Wednesday that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions.
The memorandum directs to “fully restrict and limit” travel from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Partial travel restrictions will be placed on Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
“The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security,” the memorandum says.
The directive is set to take effect on Monday.
Trump’s order says that the targeted countries have failed to build adequate “information-sharing and identity-management procedures” and that immigration from some of the countries can increase the risk of terrorism in the United States.
“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 memorandum says.
In a video released on social media, Trump tied the new ban to Sunday’s terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list. The Department of Homeland Security says he overstayed a tourist visa.
Trump said some countries had “deficient” screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of visa overstays of tourists, business visitors and students who arrive by air and sea, singling out countries with high percentages of remaining after their visas expired.
“We don’t want them,” Trump said.
The president issued a similar order during his first term banning almost all travel from Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.
He also placed restrictions on travel from North Korea and banned government officials from Venezuela.
Trump’s ban was upheld by the Supreme Court after a bitter legal fight, with the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold Trump’s travel ban, which Trump at the time called “a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution.”
“In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country,” Trump said in a statement at the time.
“This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country.”
According to the Associated Press (AP) Trump also spoke of specific countries, and his rationale for including them into the ban, specifically Afghanistan, Haiti, and Iran.
Trump wrote that Afghanistan “lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”
Haiti, which avoided the travel ban during Trump’s first term, was also included for high overstay rates and large numbers who came to the U.S. illegally.
Haitians continue to flee poverty, hunger and political instability deepens while police and a U.N.-backed mission fight a surge in gang violence, with armed men controlling at least 85% of its capital, Port-au-Prince.
“Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States,” Trump wrote.
The Iranian government government offered no immediate reaction to being included, according to the AP.
The Trump administration called it a “state sponsor of terrorism,” barring visitors except for those already holding visas or coming into the U.S. on special visas America issues for minorities facing persecution.