By Ayo Kehinde
The United States President, Donald Trump, on Wednesday, signed a proclamation that bans nationals of several countries from travelling to America, citing security risks.
The ban will fully restrict entry of nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, also known as Burma; Chad; the Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen.
It also partially restricted entrance for nationals of seven other countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The proclamation, however, includes exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry serves US national interests, according to the White House.
President Trump recalled in a White House statement that he had, on his first day in office, directed the secretary of state to perform a security review of “high-risk regions for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”
He also referenced the previous executive order, as well as the recent attack by an Egyptian national in Boulder, Colorado, upon a group of people demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Although the proclamation broadly cites national security issues for including the countries, Trump specifies a few different issues that reach the level of concern for the travel ban.
For some countries, such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Venezuela, the proclamation claims that there is no reliable central authority for issuing passports or screening and vetting nationals travelling out of the country.
For other countries, such as Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan, the proclamation cites a high rate of immigrants overstaying their visas in the US.
But Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iran, and Cuba are included because of terrorist activity or state-sponsored terrorism.
