Trump issues new travel ban to include North Korea
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration issued a new travel ban order on Sunday indefinitely suspending the entry of citizens and expanding the list of countries to include North Korea.
Sudan was dropped from the previous list of six nations, which were all Muslim-majority, and three were added. The new order retained Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and added Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.
“We cannot afford to continue the failed policies of the past, which present an unacceptable danger to our country.” President Donald Trump said in a statement.
“My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and in issuing this new travel order, I am fulfilling that sacred obligation.”
The new order goes into effect on October 18, and will be less sweeping than its previous iterations, and its implementation will be country specific.
Students and exchange students for Iran, for instance, will be exempted. And only certain government officials of Venezuela will be affected.
The order for North Korea made no mention of its missile and nuclear tests or its leadership’s escalating war of words with Trump. There was no mention also of terrorism or other security threats cited by the administration for the restrictions applicable to other countries.
It only said, “North Korea does not cooperate with the UnitedStates Government in any respect and fails tosatisfy all information-sharing requirements. The entry into the United States of nationals of North Korea as immigrants and nonimmigrants is hereby suspended.”
For Chad, a Central African country with 55% Muslim population and the rest Christian, the order cited the presence of active terrorist groups there such as Boko Haram, Islamic State and al Qaeda in Maghreb and the country’s failure to provide key terrorism-related information adequate information.
For Venezuela, it was the lack of adequate terrorism-information sharing.
And those censured are mostly officials engaged in the screening and vetting procedures, and their families. For other Venezuelans, the administration will process them with the help of “alternative sources for obtaining information”.