Trump Administration Adds 6 New Countries To Travel Ban

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Trump Administration Adds 6 New Countries To Travel Ban

The Trump administration just announced that their travel ban has been expanded to include six more countries.

According to reports from CNN, Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar are the new countries that will see restrictions, excluding immigrants who have aided the United States. This addition comes three years after Donald Trump signed the first travel ban, which many saw as an effort to ban Muslims.

This new ban has caused similar backlash over its targeting of African countries, though the White House has maintained that the travel ban is simply crucial to national security.

In 2018, after going to the Supreme Court, they upheld the third iteration of the travel ban after previous versions were challenged in court. The current policy prevents seven countries from entry to varying degrees: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and North Korea. Chad was taken off the list last April after the administration said the country enhanced its security measures. Now, the new ban only includes categories of immigration visa applicants. All immigrants from Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria will be banned from the U.S., while only green card lotteries will be restricted from Sudan and Tanzania.

The updated policy arrives as the U.S. is dealing with how to handle the coronavirus outbreak abroad. On Friday, the White House said it would deny entry to foreign nationals who have traveled through China in the last 14 days, in addition to the immigration restrictions.