Trump adds 20 more countries to travel ban – full list of 40 countries affected | World

Donald Trump has raised the drawbridge around the United States by slapping 20 more countries, and Palestinians will face travel restrictions. The Republican leader’s administration doubled the number of nations affected by restrictions or outright bans on immigration in a sweeping decree on Tuesday.

The move is part of an ongoing trend by the White House to tighten US entry standards for travel and immigration, in what critics say unfairly prevents travel for people from a broad range of countries. The administration suggested it would expand the restrictions after the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

People who already have visas, are lawful permanent residents of the US, or belong to certain visa categories, such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is believed to serve US interests, are all exempt from the restrictions. The proclamation said the changes go into effect on New Year’s Day.

In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from coming to the United States, and those from seven other countries would face restrictions. The decision resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term.

At the time the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, the latest US travel restriction against Palestinians. South Sudan was also already facing significant travel restrictions.

An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The restrictions apply to both people seeking to travel to the US as visitors or to emigrate there.

The Trump administration said in its announcement that many of the countries from which it was restricting travel had “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records” that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the US

No One Left Behind, a longtime agency advocating for the Special Immigrant Visa program, said it was “deeply concerned” about the change. The organisation said it appreciated the president’s commitment to national security but allowing Afghans who’d served the US to enter the US — after extensive vetting — also contributes to the country’s security.

“Though intended to allow for review of inconsistent vetting processes, this policy change inadvertently restricts those who are among the most rigorously vetted in our history: the wartime allies targeted by the terrorists this proclamation seeks to address,” the organisation said in a statement.

The Trump administration also upgraded restrictions on some countries — Laos and Sierra Leone — that previously were on the partially restricted list and in one case — Turkmenistan — said the country had improved enough to warrant easing some restrictions on travellers from that country. Everything else from the previous travel restrictions announced in June remains in place, the administration said.